A Hero's Path
by BStyles4Life
Summary: My daughter had gone missing three years ago, and one day, out of the blue, she miraculously returns on her own. Now the question 'why' is going to lead me on the biggest quest of my life, and it may or may not look so good when I finally find the answer.
1. Return

**This is my first published story. It may look new, but i've been working on it for some time now. Enjoy the first chapter!**

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_Lights flashed at me from all directions. So did my life._

My name is Calvin Winthrop, and this is my story. Well, one third of it anyway.

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I packed everything I could find. Clothes, toothbrushes, journals, pictures, tents, and flyers--a whole stack of them. I was going to need some backup, so Gallade, Mismagius and Electivire were comming along. My daughter had been gone for three years, and with much encouragement from Giratina, I wasn't about to lose hope.

"I'll be back," I told Gallade. "Just need a little walk."

He gave me one slight nod before I left.

The walk was uneventful. I've lived in Alto Mare for eight years, and I'd pretty much seen everything. I couldn't stop thinking about my daughter. You'd think that after three years, any father would have pronounced her dead, but not me. I had searched hard and relentless, crossing the conjoined continents of Kanto and Johto, and later Hoenn. now I was headed for Sinnoh, and it wasn't going to get any easier.

Mismagius appeared in front of me, and I had to stop and acknowledge her once I had passed right through her. It's a feeling you don't want to experience.

She looked as if she was worried...about me.

"I know what you're thinking," I said. "And i'm not considering suicide."

She looked relieved. Unlike Gallade and Electivire, who knew me better than that, she had been worried about my mental state ever since the break-in and kidnapping at the restaurant three years ago. I continued walking, and she followed alongside.

"I probably deserved this," I mumbled.

After my wife's death (it was just me and Molly, my daughter. Her full name was Melinda Carolyn Winthrop. She chose the name for the restaurant), I started to become more and more....inconsiderate to the people who cared about me. Now, not only did I lose her, but I lost a valuable employ....no, friend, because she had been kidnapped simultaneously as Molly. I was lucky that her family didn't blame me for that, but I'd still have to live with the guilt. Unfortunately they weren't as open-minded as I was, and held her funeral which I joined, after only seven months of searching. In retrospect, that seems like a long time for any family to wait, but I swore there and then that I wouldn't give up looking for Molly.

Since I was in deep thought, the walk was very quiet, and pretty awkward. I figured I needed to talk to someone, and Mismagius was all open. I hadn't been talking to any of my pokémon for quite a while now, and presumably, the effect was growing on their emotions.

"So we're off on another adventure," I said. She nodded. "Just like old times."

She smiled. I did too. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

"Okay, let's head back to the restaurant." I said. "We have to go."

When I got back, Gallade was polishing the wooden counters, and Electivire was drying an already wet floor. Electricity makes heat, doesn't it?

"You guys...you don't have to do this," I said.

Since we were all going on this trip, the restaurant was going to be closed. I picked up the window cleaner and some paper towel and joined the cause. Mismagius used her psychic powers to turn up the chairs. Lucky. At the same time, I heard a soft knocking on the door. Probably another customer who didn't read the sign. When I peeked through the blinds at the door, I saw a young girl in severely torn clothing. She had magnificent blue hair that aroused some suspucious looks from across the street. Her face was pale, and brown eyes full of worry. I couldn't leave her out there, especially in her condition. I unlocked the door and she slipped in, and looked around.

"Hello...may I help you?"

"No...no you can't..." Yeah, I don't think so.

"Well, i'm pretty sure I can," I stared her down. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Yes, thank you."

I walked into the kitchen, a bit confused. I was probably the only restaurant in the city that was closed and she decided to come here. That said something at the time. I figured she didn't want to go to any other restaurant because she wanted to be alone, and a 'closed' sign always has a green light for that kind of thing.

I made her a sandwich, and finally finished up the last bit of food. Thank God. Putting it in the garbage is one thing, but leaving it there to rot for months is pretty nasty.

When I got back out front she had taken it upon herself to sit at one of the tables. Mismagius helped her with a chair and the two of them were talking quietly. I joined them.

"Here you go," I placed the sandwich in front of her. She quickly started eating. "I hope this is enough."

She nodded and continued eating. I looked at Mismagius. She looked as if she was crying.

"What's wrong?"

She tipped her hat and glided away. I shrugged and went back to cleaning.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Out of town."

"You're moving?"

"Of course not," I said. "I'm going to Sinnoh to look for my daughter."

"Why Sinnoh?"

"Well," I sprayed the glass. "It's the only place I haven't checked, and....i've run out of options."

I finished cleaning, turned around to look at the girl, and she was staring back at me.

"What?"

"I was...just wondering--"

"No, the sandwich is on me," I looked at her clothing, and I couldn't help but ask. "You need a change of clothes?"

She looked at herself, and clearly read my mind. "You don't have to--"

"I insist," I said. "I won't be here anyway."

She nodded. I grabbed my bag, and called for Mismagius, Gallade, and Electivire. When we all got outside, I locked the door to the restaurant. For the three years that I'd been searching the world, there had hardly been any management, which meant no profit. As painful as that sounded, Molly was still on the top of my agenda. This had to be done.

"I could probably lend you some of my daughter's clothes.''

Much like the walk earlier, it was quiet and awkward. I tried holding the girl's hand, but everytime I did she pulled away. She was pretty reserved, so I gave up after three tries.

'Calvin!' Someone called through telepathy. I stopped.

'Who's this?'

'Giratina,' He said. 'Did you leave yet?'

'No, I got held up.'

'What happened?'

'I don't know,' I continued walking. 'This strange girl popped up at my restaurant.'

'Your daughter?'

'You know....' I'd never considered that. My daughter, 8, was kidnapped three years ago, and this girl... "How old are you?"

"11."

That said something. However, two things threw me off. The blue hair, and the fact that she could have told me earlier.

'No,' I said. 'She looks a bit...lost, so i'm helping her.'

'You're getting soft.'

'I'm being nice.'

'Even worse,' I could hear him laughing.

I sighed and continued walking.

My home was a short walk from the restaurant. It was a comfortable two-story house on the edge of a canal, with a terrace, abundant with greenery, behind the kitchen. My green thumb was useful for something. There was always a gondola tied to a wooden bollard right in front of the house, but I never felt the need to use it.

"Come with me."

I left everyone else outside, and took the girl up to Molly's room. I'd left it the same way since she disappeared.

"Here you go," I took out some clothes for her. "I always had the problem of buying my daughter's clothes a couple of sizes too big. But it was for good reason."

She looked at me and calmly smiled. "Yeah, you always did that."

I walked to the door and started to pull it in, when I finally registered her words and threw it open again. "Wh....what did you say?"

"It's me, dad."

That was too much. I think I passed out because when I reawoke, a couple of hours had passed and I was sprawled out across my bed.

"Molly!" I sprang to life. "Molly?"

I ran out into the hallway. Once again I ran through Mismagius and stumbled. Dammit that's horrible.

"Mismagius, where's Molly?" I asked. She got me to follow her across the hallway and down the stairs, and towards the terrace.

From here, I could see Molly through the kitchen window. She was sitting in a clearing of grass. I couldn't believe it was her. I stepped outside. The night was cool and breezy. A crescent-shaped moon illuminated the sky, and it reflected off the surface of the water in the fountain. The running water made it very peaceful. Molly must've sensed my presence, because she turned around to acknowledge me.

"Dad," Her face was full of tears. "Please don't question me."

"I wasn't planning to," I lied. "Just came to see if I was haluccinating."

She ran into my arms. "Dad...i've missed you..."

This was a dream come true. My daughter was finally back after three years of searching. But something wasn't right. This was too....easy. Why now did she show up? Was she held by someone? And why was her hair blue?

"I don't get it," I said. She looked up at me. "I've searched the world and I couldn't find you."''Dad....''

"That had to have meant that you were in Sinnoh." I was trying my hardest to keep away from the questions.

"Yeah, I was."

I had to ask where Danielle was--the friend\employee that was working overtime on the night of the break-in. "Molly, you have to tell me....where's Danielle?"

She frowned, and didn't answer. It was her way of dealing with me when I didn't listen to her, so I gave up.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hm?" It was Gallade. "What is it?"

He pointed back to the house. I followed his arm and made out two figures standing in the foyer.

"Could you stay here with Molly?" He nodded. "Thanks."

I walked back into the kitchen. I didn't usually get visitors like this, so it had to be important. I looked at the clock on the wall, and it read 11:36 pm. Not this late either. When I got to the foyer, it was a bit of a surprise who showed up. A tall, blonde-haired, slim-faced man, probably in his mid-forties, wearing a sleeveless gray jacket; two golden armlets were wrapped around his arms, followed by about four or five bracelets down by his wrists. His jeans and undershirt were black, with three thick red stripes running through their mid-sections. He would've looked oddly human if it weren't for his crimson red eyes.

He was followed by a younger companion, probably sixteen or seventeen. Followed by the same set of red eyes, I always objected that for his appearance in age, he had a full head of gray hair. He was wearing a gray jacket in a similar fashion as his partner, with the exception that his sleeves were detached, gray as well. Appropriate for the climate, he was wearing shorts that ended in a large blue stripe, matching his blue undershirt. There was a lone red triangle positioned right in the center.

"Giratina, Latios," I said. "I figured you'd come."

"Well, you never showed up to the hall," He said. "So, we came here."

"Just you two?"

"Unfortunately."

"Sorry," Latios frowned in pity. "It's just that...Molly showed up."

"She came back? Where was she?"

"Apparently Sinnoh," I said. "She doesn't want to answer any questions."

"So everything's back to normal?" Latios asked.

I had to figure out what happened to Danielle. Was she dead or alive? "For now."

"Good," Giratina gave me a disturbing smile. "Will you be at thursday's meeting?"

"We'll see."

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**For some accuracy, and just in case you're wondering, this story takes place in 2003, the same year the movie "Pokémon Heroes" debuted in the US. That last part will be explained in the chapters that come. Please review!**


	2. A Soft Side

I heard a scream. I jumped. "Molly!"

I ran out of my room and across the hall to hers. Either someone had broken in or she was having a nightmare. I pushed her door open and I went with choice two.

"Get away from me!" She shrieked, tossing and turning beneath her bedsheets.

"Molly, wake up!" I held her in my arms. She struggled to get free.

"No...no! Leave me alone!"

"It's me!" I said. "Your dad! Wake up!"

She woke up, grabbed my shirt, and then started crying.

'Three nights in a row,' I thought. 'And she still doesn't want to tell me what happened.'

I stayed with her the remainder of the night. I couldn't leave her, she didn't want to go back to sleep, and she wouldn't let go of my shirt. I started to theorize to pass the time. Her nightmares always ended the same way: with someone grabbing at her or taking her off somewhere. I couldn't help but wonder what traumatizing event had happened to her while she was in Sinnoh, and if the the same thing was happening to Danielle as I spoke. Molly refused to answer any questions, and I refused to question her, so the only way I would find my answers was if I went to Sinnoh myself. Unfortunately, my theory stopped a couple of hours short of sunrise. Me and Molly decided on outside breakfast and left at the crack of dawn. Electivire and Gallade had left earlier, probably to spar. Where, I will never know.

"How're you feeling Molly?" I asked. She looked at me with a bit of a smile.

"Okay now, I guess."

I ran my hand through her hair. "I like the blue hair by the way."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

She grabbed my arm. ''Who are you?"

"I wish I knew that myself," We both laughed.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was only then that I remembered...there was no food. I cleaned the fridge out yesterday, because I wasn't expecting Molly to come back on her own terms.

Someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around. "Yes, may I help--" Noone was there.

"Dad? Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," A soft giggle echoed through my head. I sighed. "Never mind," I looked around for the invisible culprit. 'Latias, I know you're out here.'

I still couldn't see her, but she made it obvious that she was hovering right next to me. 'Good Morning, Calvin.'

Molly sat down in the bench in front of the restaurant, Mismagius accompanying her, and I walked up the street. Once we were out of their clear sight, Latias revealed herself.

'Molly seems to be doing a lot better.'

"On the outside, yeah," I said. "But she's had nightmares for three days."

'Wow,' She rubbed her head. 'You know I hate to change the subject, but...are ou ready for today's meeting?'

"Oh shoot," I'd been so worried about Molly's condition for the last few days that it completely slipped my mind. And with nobody at home and since Mismagius generally accompanied me to these meetings, this left me in between a rock and a hard place. "Noone's at the house. I can't leave Molly alone."

'And you can't take her with you,' She started to think, and then all of a sudden, her face lit up. 'I've got an idea!'

"Latias, no!" She disappeared before I could finish. "Oh, god, this isn't going to be good!"

I ran back down the street to the restaurant. Mismagius was hovering right next to where Molly had been sitting, and when she noticed the expression on my face, she matched it with a guilty one. Before I could ask, Latias reappeared. 'I left Molly with Latios.'

"Of all people?"

'Well, you don't have any personal friends,' That comment hit me like a punch in the face. "You have any better ideas?"

"No," I said, recovering from the humiliation. "But Latias, your brother hates me."

'Well that may be. But it's childish to hold that over Molly.'

"....okay, i'll trust him," We formed a triangle, and with a blue flash, we were gone.

* * *

Molly woke up. Her eyes started to wander around her new environment. She was laying in the grass, flowers sprouting up around the outline of her body, trees towereing above her head, and from her point of view, there was one small berry hanging from a tree branch. She got up, reached for it, and picked it off. It was an Oran Berry, one she had come to love over the last few years.

'I wonder why Mismagius put me to sleep like that,' She thought, biting into the berry. 'And where did dad go?'

Just thinking about him not being by her side made her feel a bit uneasy.

'He's not here.'

The voice seemed to echo out of nowhere. "H-hello?"

She looked around to find the source of the voice, but all she found were trees and flowers. When she turned back, she immediately started staring into a pair of crimson red eyes. She stumbled backwards into the flowers. From this view, she could clearly note that she was in the presence of the city's guardian.

'Hello, Molly.'

* * *

The Hall of Origin was amazing. No only did it have the world's longest conference table, but it was also Arceus's home. It was housed above the Spear Pillar at the top of Mt. Coronet in Sinnoh. A great place for a home and a meeting, because hikers never made it to the top without being deprived of oxygen, and it was out of plain sight.

I was leaning against the table, re-working my theory. I didn't notice the enormous ghostly figure approaching me, nor did I hear the amount of footsteps accompanying it.

'Hey Calvin!' Giratina called. I didn't respond. 'Cal?'

Giratina was persistent. One thing he didn't like was to be ignored. He raised one of his massive feet and stomped the ground. I lost my balance on the table, and fell to the hard ground beside it.

'Hey Calvin!'

"Oh, hey Giratina," I finally said. "What's up with you?"

'Always the same. You look a bit tense.'

I got up and brushed myself off. "I'm grateful that Molly is back and all, but what about Danielle? I still have to live with the guilt."

'I'm not big on advice,' He said. 'But if you want to find your answer, then go look for her.'

Azelf and Mismagius joined me.

"I can start by looking here in Sinnoh. Everywhere else has left me clueless."

'Speaking of which,' Azelf said. 'Do you know abductions are very common here in Sinnoh?'

"Wait, where did you hear that?"

'I heard it in one of those houses near my lake. I heard a whole bunch of names.' This wasn't good. People were going missing in Sinnoh as well.

"It means we might have a big problem on our hands."

'Hey, where _is_ Molly by the way?' Giratina asked.

''Latias left her with Latios.''

'And what happened to him?'

"I'm not really sure," I turned to Latias. "I thought you told me that your brother has never missed a meeting."

'He hasn't _missed_ any, but he's omitted a few.'

* * *

Latios led Molly to a lake. She couldn't believe for a second that she was this close to the legendary eon dragon, or how she ended up in this new and unfamiliar place. But one major question still remained.

"How do you know my name?" She asked, unsure whether or not she was going to get a response like the one earlier.

'Your father has told me about you,' That seemed to make her feel better. 'We have our differences, but I appreciate that he's gone to all lengths to look for you.'

"So...you know my dad," She said. "How? Did you save his life or something?"

"No."

"....he saved _your_ life?"

Latios couldn't help but laugh. 'No. Unfortunately I can't tell you, and neither can he.'

She sat down by the water, and started to look at it's crystal clear surface. For a while, she hadn't noticed that she had been staring into her own reflection, and tears started to form in her eyes.

'What's wrong, Molly?'

"Nothing," she sniffed, her voice breaking up.

'If something's worrying you, you can always talk to someone,' Latios landed next to her. 'I'm all ears.'

"...okay."

* * *

Arceus came out to talk to us all. The meeting lasted three hours already, and she was down to her final subject.

'I've noticed the increase in human disappearances occuring all over Sinnoh, and places as far away as Hoenn and Alto Mare,' Arceus said. She was standing at the head of the table, and everyone was silent. 'Calvin, i've just been informed that your daughter has returned. Is there anything...different about her?'

"She's three years older, she's very traumatized, and she has blue hair."

'Interesting.'

'Brown hair to blue hair?' Mew asked. 'That's not natural among normal humans.' Not unless they dyed it. But Molly's hair was different. I pulled out a strand yesterday, and it's entirety was blue, end to folicle.

"I know." I said. "And all of my answers are leading me right back here to Sinnoh."

'Well on a brief search, Articuno and Lugia have gone to check their regions, while Rayquaza is re-checking Hoenn,' Arceus continued. 'I have yet to hear from them. Giratina will be continuing the search here from the Distortion World.'

'So wait,' He looked a bit excited. 'I never have to leave home?'

'A ray of sunshine for us all,' Arceus smiled back. 'Meeting ajourned.'

A wave of chatter erupted across the room.

'Calvin,' Arceus called. 'Can I see you?'

I walked across the room. Mismagius followed. I had to break my neck to look up at her. "Yes?"

She stepped on a pressure panel. A portal automatically opened in front of us, and she urged me to follow. The portal closed behind us.

'Mew is right,' She said. 'Brown hair to blue hair isn't natural for humans. Are you sure she's okay?'

"I don't know, she won't answer any questions," I let out a sigh. "But my theory is gaining momentum."

'What do you have so far?'

"Well, Molly has had nightmares for the last three days," I said. "They always end with what I believe, is a group of people taking her off somewhere. I've looked for her in Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn. No luck. So that leads me to believe that most or all of my answers lie somewhere in Sinnoh."

'Then you can join Giratina,' She said.

"_Why_?"

'Look, I know he maybe a bit of a handful sometimes, but he always gets his answer,' She said. 'One thing preventing me from demoting him.'

"Okay," I said. "But can I at least tell my daughter about this?"

'....I will accept it,' She said. 'But it's your head if something were to happen to any one of us.'

* * *

"....and I haven't been able to sleep since," Molly finished.

Latios had been quietly listening all the time Molly was telling her story about her nightmares. He knew that there was more to it, something behind the mystery of the nightmares, and when he had asked, Molly started crying. So, he believed it had something to do with the three years that she was missing, a 'theory' in other words, that her father was unknowingly spicing up for himself.

'It will take some time, since you just got back,' He said. 'To remember that you're in the safety of your own home. The nightmares will go away in no time.'

"Are you sure?"

'I'm positive.'

She smiled. "Can I ask you something?"

'Sure.'

"You said that you and my dad had your differences," She went on. "You two don't hate each other, do you?"

'I don't agree with some of the things your father does,' He tried to make it out in the nicest "yes, I hate his guts" way as possible. 'That's all.'

"You don't feel the same way about me, do you?"

'Of course not.'

"Then....I guess we're friends!" She hugged him, a hug he would never understand, because for some strange reason, it made him blush. "I know you're the city's guardian, and that calls for someone strong and brave like you, but under all that, you really have a soft side."

He couldn't understand how this eleven year-old broke him so easily, but letting Calvin know that he made friends with her and not him made it feel all worth the while.

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**During the next two chapters, why Calvin knows the legendaries like this will finally be explained, i'll introduce the remaining three of his party pokemon, and there will be some action, both good and bad!**


	3. The Aide I

**Two new chapters today, in two parts. These will explain everything, and as the reader, you might notice something else going on behind the scenes!**

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It was some time after six in the evening when me and Mismagius got home. I rounded the corner and stepped down onto the boardwalk to my house. When I got there, I unlocked the door and stepped inside, and before I got the chance to turn on the lights, they flickered on. Molly and Latios were standing there. He had chosen to stay in true form, which was quite a shocker.

His eyes flared up like embers. 'Calvin...'

"Hey, this was your sister's idea!" I said in defense. "I thought you'd be okay with it!"

'I am.'

"Oh....okay," He went soft for Molly. That's not a bad thing, but it's something I didn't expect from him. I'll have to rub it in later.

Molly was in complete shock from our conversation. I spotted her look, and then realized how awkward of a moment this was. "Oh...Molly...uh...'' I quickly remembered that it was okay to tell her. "Latios and I are...um...we know each other."

"So it's true!" She said. "I wish I could know how."

"Actually--" I heard a splash of water from outside. I quickly reopened the door, and started to stare into the beady brown eyes of a Milotic.

"Millie!"

When I came home from my Hoenn adventure as a trainer, Emmy gave me an egg that was to me Millie. Her nickname just spawned from me shortening her actual name, and it's stuck ever since. It was unfortunate though, Emmy never got to see Millie's hatching. She evolved some time around the end of my search in Hoenn, which raised my hopes, and she means a lot to me. That would definitely help for what happened next.

"Millie, you finished your errand," She nodded slowly. "How did it go?"

She sighed,and fell into my arms.

"Tiring, I guess," Her body was cold and wet, but I really didn't care. "Don't worry. A good night's rest will--" Her back was lined with deep cuts. They ran almost her entire length. "Millie, are you okay?"

When she fell into my arms, it wasn't a greeting. It was because she had collapsed.

* * *

I sat in a bench in the lobby at the pokemon center. Unfortunately Millie's injuries were too extensive for the conventional rejuvenation process, and she was wheeled to the emergency room. Three hours had passed. Molly and Latios(human form) joined me.

"They haven't said anyhting since I borught her here."

"Dad, she'll be okay," Molly said. "Don't worry."

She sat next to me.

'Unfortunately I have to go,' Latios said. 'Calvin, can I talk to you before I leave?'

"Sure."

We walked over to the windows. It was a clear night, and the moon was out.

'Molly knows,' He said. 'What do you plan to do?'

"Tell her."

He seemed blown away. "You've finally lost it, haven't you?"

"You went soft for her, so we're even," He frowned, I smiled. "Arceus said it was okay, so there's no point to keep a secret from her. I never have."

'Well, at least it was cleared by Arceus,' He turned around. 'Good night.'

He walked back to Molly, and told her good night. "Wait, that's it? Good night?"

'You want me to tuck you in?' I gave him a nasty glare. He shook his head. 'I hope Millie is okay.'

He walked out the door. Simultaneously, a doctor walked towards me.

"Is Millie okay?"

"She will be," He said. "She's been placed in recovery."

"What happened to her?" I asked eagerly.

"From what I could tell Mr. Winthrop, she was attacked by at least two adversaries. They left severe wounds along her back, prolonged exposure to the elements and the fact that she was swimming could have infected them. Thankfully not. Were you in a battle of some sort?"

"No, I had no idea," I said. "She was just running an errand."

"Well, she needs rest, but you can see her."

* * *

Millie was resting comfortably on her bed. It had to be extended because of her length, so it was actually about three tables covered in blankets. I wasn't counting on leaving her, so it was a bit shocking when the sun started comming back up, how long i'd been with her. Molly came in, holding two cups of tea in her hand.

"Thanks, Molly."

"I just saw Star and Typhlosion go by," Of course, my last two pokemon. "They looked tired and went home."

"Well, they'll be by later....um, Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"I can tell you everything."

"About...."

"How I know Latios," She turned her chair towards me to listen. "Four years ago...."

* * *

I walked into the pantry. At the back, I kept the fruits I used for the entrees served out front. Unfortunately my supply was low. I frowned.

"Danielle!" I grabbed my jacket. "Watch over the restaurant for a while!"

"What?!" She yelled back. "Really?"

It was awkward yelling back and forth across the restaurant while customers were still here. They looked back in confusion.

"Yeah, really," I grabbed my hat. "Don't mess this up!"

I walked down the street and towards the ferry terminal. From there, it was a seven hour ride to the Slateport market where I bought my fruits. It seemed a little outgoing to buy fruits from so far away, but the quality of the fruit seems to increase by the distance of where it's grown. Slateport was top quality because of that.

It was night when I finally got there. I ran to the market before it closed, and stopped at my favorite salesperson.

"Evening," I panted.

"Ah, welcome back, Mr. Winthrop," He said. "This is an unusual visit."

"Yeah, well I ran out of fruits early," With that, he started looking around for the fruits I always asked for. When he was done, I paid him and he gave them to me in a paper bag.

"How's the restaurant?"

"Great, because of these," I said.

"Oh, it's no problem."

I waved him goodbye and walked out of the market. The ferry didn't leave for another twenty minutes, so I decided to walk around to waste time. That led me to walk towards the city, where a pink-haired girl ran past me. Nothing too unusual about that, until a Blazeiken and a Salamence ran past, after her. Slateport at night was a weird place.

"Mere coincidence."

She turned into an alley, and the pokemon behind her followed suit. From the opposite direction, three men in gray and black suits ran into the alley. Something definitely didn't look right, so to be on the safe side, I released Staraptor and Gallade, and peeked around the corner. The alley was a dead end, and the group had cornered the girl.

"There's nowhere left to run, Mesprit," One guy said. "The boss has known about your shapeshifting abilities, you can't escape."

Mesprit?! The legendary Mesprit?! Well, I guess that explains the pink hair. I couldn't just sit by and let these guys do something to her.

"Hey!" I walked into the alley, Gallade and Staraptor at my side. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Stay out of this," One guy said. "You'll live longer."

"I'm not leaving, so you're stuck with me."

The three of them looked at each other for a minute, and then started laughing.

"Blaziken, Salamence, handle this idiot."

They darted towards me. I ran past them, and they were immediately occupied by Gallade and Staraptor. I was met by the three guys, who were armed with knives. I picked up a trashcan lid, and they instantly started laughing again. I rammed the trashcan lid into one guy's throat. He fell to his knees, gasping for air.

"Laugh now."

The other two guys charged at me, knives in hand. One tried to stab me, but I blocked it with the lid, the blade cutting through the metal lid like paper but stopping at the handle. Unfortunately the other guy used the delay time to get around my defense and cut me across my arm. That hurt, but I ignored it and continued fighting. I spun the lid, twisting the knife out of the guy's hand and punching him in the face. He stumbled backwards and fell into a pile of trash. The second guy, now having pissed me off, felt the full force of a trashcan lid against his head and was knocked out. The third, catching his breath, I kneed in the face. He fell back onto the ground. I looked back to Gallade and Staraptor. Staraptor was standing on top of a downed Salamence, and Gallade was leaning against the wall, towering over a confused Blaziken. They did better than I did.

I turned around. "Mesprit...are you alright?"

She was breathing heavily. "You're...you're hurt."

"I'll be fine."

She gasped. "Look out!"

I spun around, but it was too late. I don't remember seeing, but I felt a sharp blow to my head, and then nothing but darkness. There was an echoed scream, and that went mute as well.

_

* * *

_

'Wake up, Calvin....'

I opened my eyes. I was lying in a hallway. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of stone, and the doors of steel. It was very unwelcoming, and I figured I probably died, so I started to panic.

_'Just calm down Calvin, and follow my voice.'_

I soon recognized the voice. "Emmy!"

Quick recap. Emmy, or Emelina Winthrop, happens to be my wife. We were married for eight unregretful years, until she was sricken with disease and passed in 1998. I knew her voice as if it had been playing like a tape recorder all these years, and it was amazing that I was about to see her again. Thinking about that for a second made me stumble. I had to have died myself.

I regained my pace and ran down the hallway, until I met a door unlike any other. It was wood instead of steel. I turned the doorknob and entered. She was standing there, in an elegant white gown, smiling back at me. I ran toward her and kissed her. It lasted a while before I looked at her.

"It's been so long," I said. "Am....am I dead?"

"I would expect that to be your first question," I chuckled. "No, you're not, but...."

I stopped laughing. "What's wrong, Emmy?"

She sighed. "Calvin, you're in a hospital, back in Slateport City."


	4. The Aide II

My smile faded. "What?!"

"You tried to save Mesprit, which you did, but..." She winced. "You were hit across the head by one of the guys you downed a few minutes before, and that unfortunately, knocked you out....and you've been like that for almost a week."

"Oh, god," I put my hands to my head. "What happened to Mesprit?"

"She's fine, Gallade and Staraptor handled the guy after you fell, which is why I brought you here."

"What's wrong, Emmy?"

She sighed. "Calvin, you have to do something. A very important task, once you come out of this coma."

"Sure, anything."

"You have to clear the hospital room that you're in so that Mesprit can talk to you," She said. "Then, whatever she asks you to do, you have to promise me you'll do it."

"Of-Of course. I promise."

The room, including her, started to blur. I called out and asked if i'd see her again.

_'I never left, Calvin.'_

Everything started to swirl. Some of the feeling had left my legs, and I fell to the ground. Pain erupted from my arm and head, too unbearable to yell out for, and when I blinked, I was laying in a hostpial bed. The morning sun shone through the windows, hitting me directly in the eyes. From what I could see, my six pokémon, including Danielle and Molly were gathered around, all asleep. They woke up when my heart rate started to rise.

"Oh, my god, Calvin!" Danielle said loudly. "You're awake! How're you feeling?"

"Like hell," I said. "Can you close the blinds?"

I had to wonder how I was going to go about clearing the room. I could ask for a drink, but then a question would rise as to why everyone needed to go. Since I was still too weak, getting up was out of the question. I had to get the room empty somehow.

'Wait a minute,' Emmy said I have to clear the room, which meant that this conversation had to be private. But what if the occupants weren't conscious to witness it? "Hey, Mismagius?" She turned to me. I winked. She looked at me in awe, and I replied with a "just trust me" look. She sighed, and used hypnosis. Everyone, except me and her, dropped to the ground, asleep again.

'Convenient,' Mesprit said, revealing herself. And I could tell it was her, because just like her human form or vice versa, some of her features were pink. Her voice was sort of an echo, that I could hear quite distinctly in my head. I sat up in the best way possible.

"Uh, yeah."

She smiled. 'Calvin, I can't thank you enough for saving me.'

"You don't need to, I'm just glad I was there to help."

She nodded in appreciation. 'I've been asked to tell you to meet Latias in Alto Mare. She will take it from there.'

"Wait....the 'guardian of Alto Mare' Latias?!" My jaw dropped.

"Yes. That's not a problem, is it?"

"No, no," It was very convenient that I lived in the city. "How will I find her?"

'Go to the park,' She said. 'I-I have to go now, but....' She hugged me. 'Thanks again, and I hope you get well soon!'

Her hug was the most peaceful thing I had felt in a while. It cleared my thoughts, both from the throbbing pain and from all the excess anger from a week ago. After all these years, I finally realize why they call her "The Being of Emotion". She waved me goodbye, and with a small flash, she was gone.

* * *

Since the blow to my head hadn't caused anything lethal, only that I needed stitches, there and in my arm, I was discharged from the hospital the next morning. My hat covered up the bandages on my head, but my jacket, having been cut through, had a large gash on the left sleeve. I swung it over my other arm. The nine of us then took the first ferry back to Alto Mare. Once home, I sent Danielle back to the restaurant to lock up and put the fruits in the pantry. In the meantime, I went to the park. Latias was waiting for me somewhere here, but with no description, I didn't bother looking around for her. Instead, I sat in a park bench, and closed my eyes.

_'Calvin....'_

I opened my eyes. The voice, like Mesprit's, echoed through my ears in a bit of a playful tone. It seemed to come from a direction, deeper in the park. I got up, and followed it. The voices of the people faded, and soon died away, until it was only the rustling of the grass beneath my feet, and the birds chirping.

"Hello..." I called. "Um....L-Latias, was that your voice I heard?"

_'Yes, that was me.'_

I was shocked that I got an answer. I was even more shocked when she revealed herself, staring at eye level with me.

'Now that the coast is clear, it's nice to finally meet you, Calvin.'

"You too!" As unbelievable as that moment was, it was about to take a turn for the unexpected when my surroundings started to swirl. I held my head.

'Calvin? Are you okay?'

"I'm fine," I said, catching my balance. "Just a bit....dizzy from my head injury."

'Mesprit told me what you did,' She said. 'Which reminds me. I have to fulfill my part of the assignment.'

She placed her paw on my arm. 'Bear with me. This may be a bit uncomforable, since it's your first time.'

"First time for what?"

I wish I never asked. Her eyes lit up, and for a split second, we were covered in a veil of blue light. Teleportation is an everyday thing for me nowadays, but since it was my first time, I had to endure it for the three seconds we spent traveling to our destination. The first second I felt like I was being sucked into a vacuum, the next, the vacuum had turned into a windtunnel, as if travelling at jet speeds, and then for the third, we stopped, it feeling like I hit a brick wall.

The light faded. When my vision came into focus, we were standing in some sort of cavern. In it, was a long glass table spanning almost the entire length of the room, headed by what looked like a podium. A conference room, but for what?

"Hello, Giratina!" Latias called to the enormous ghostly dragon. I didn't actually understand her, she moved away from telepathy, so all I heard was a loud "Laaaaat!"

"Hello, Latias!" I guess he was greeting her back. It was a loud roar that I soon got used to. He walked over, his every footstep unsynchronized, so it felt like an earthquake to me. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm running an errand. It's very--"

"I hate to interrupt," I blurted out. "But is there any way I can join this conversation?"

'Oh, sorry,' Much better. 'Calvin, this is Giratina. He's second in command.'

"To who?"

'Arceus.'

I took a deep breath to gather my thoughts. "Arceus?" She nodded. "You mean like "The Original One" Arceus?"

'Yep.'

"Okay, so maybe you can tell me what's going on?" I looked up at Giratina. For me, this was like looking up at a skyscraper.

'You must be the little human Arceus told me about,' He said. 'Well, she's not here, but she told me to tell her that you're her new aide.'

'Come again?'

'Her _aide_,' He repeated. 'As in you're dispatched by _her_ and you help _us_.'

I stood there in silence, wondering if I was actually in a coma back in Slateport. At first, I didn't think much of his words. But when I re-thought my current situation and the fact that the dream I had with Emmy and all of the events leading up to this were so accurate and planned out, I think I handled the situation very professionally.

"Um, could you hold that thought for a second?" He nodded, and I tipped over backwards and passed out.

* * *

"You passed out?!" Molly shrieked.

"Sorry, but that was a lot of information to take in," I replied. "Plus, the dizziness just swept over me out of nowhere, I couldn't help it."

"What did you do?" She asked.

"I thought about it for a few days, and then I went back and considered it."

"One thing still buggs me," She said. "How come we didn't notice when you were gone?"

"Weekends and late nights. The only time it didn't work was yesterday, when you found out about Latios."

We both heard a slight groan. When we looked up, Millie was awake, trying to figure out where she was, until her eyes fell on us. She gave me this unusual stare on occasion, that always seemed to remind me of Emmy. Maybe it was because she used to stare at me the same way. It was either because I did something wrong, or it was a sign of relief.

"Millie, I'm so glad you're okay," I rubbed her neck.


	5. Departure

**This is the last chapter before Calvin leaves for Sinnoh on his search. Enjoy!**

* * *

I was at the edge of the city, leaning against the handrail at the edge of the boardwalk. From here, I could see far out into the sea, fishing boats scattered all around, accompanied by the occasional yacht and dinghy. It reminded me of a similar scene I saw in Vermillion City back when I was just a kid. An uninvited presence was making its way towards me, and fast, but I decided to wait until the right time to act.

"Danielle," I mumbled. "I am going to find you, and I hope you'll forgive me."

Well, as I mentioned a few chapters ago, I inconvenienced her pretty much all the time. On the night of the kidnapping, she needed to be somewhere, but I had asked her to work overtime, us ending up in an argument, me leaving for a split second, and returning to her and Molly's inevitable fates. She normally didn't get angry, she came to reason before lashing out, so when she finally did, It was something I didn't expect. Well, that was three years ago. I couldn't imagine all of the anger that had built up over that time range, but in case I wanted an example....

"Now!" I spun around, and was met by a Gardevoir. She looked equally confused, so I didn't attack.

"Um, hello," The confused look diminished, and a demented look appeared. "Can I help you with something?"

'No,' She shocked me with her sense of telepathy. 'But you can help me.'

I stumbled, my vision starting to swirl. What looked like one Gardevoir now turned into six. I felt myself being lifted off the ground, and thrown back onto the hard pavement. I struggled to my feet. She walked towards me, psychic energy flaring up in her eyes and hands.

"Wh....what are you doing?!"

'This is payback,' She said. 'Three years in the making.'

She waved her arms, throwing two large waves of psychic energy at me.

* * *

I woke up, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. 'Just a nightmare,' I thought. But what that Gardevoir said was true to the word. I checked my clock. I read 1:12. Then I checked the calendar. April 11, 2003. I backtracked a little, and figured out that three years ago today was the day of the kidnapping. I jumped back. That was Danielle speaking in that dream. Full of anger and hatred towards me. But what bugged me was the fact that she turned up in the form of a pokemon, and not her human form. To inflict damage, maybe?

I went back to sleep, and woke up five hours later to open the restaurant. It would officially close by twelve today, since I would be headed to Sinnoh on my search. Two weeks had passed since Millie was discharged from the hospital, and her recovery was coming along great. She followed me to the restaurant, collecting 'get well' cards from kids who passed by and balloons portraying the same message. She seemed overjoyed, I seemed a bit skeptical, not one secret could be kept in this city.

"Millie, we have a big day ahead of us," She shook her head, replying with "no we don't". "It may only last six more hours, but treat it like a regular business day."

There was a note on the front door of the restaurant. It read: "I went to the park, just in case you're wondering. I'll be there all day if you need me. Molly."

"Oh, Molly," I unlocked the door and sat at a table. Millie let go of her balloons and they floated to the ceiling. I started to think. Molly had just come back from Sinnoh, I couldn't take her back if I were to search for Danielle. What if, whoever held her for those three years came back to re-capture her? Yes, I would be able to defend her, but just seeing them wouldn't be healthy for her, emotionally. And just in case I fell into trouble, I would need my pokemon to help me. Again, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Millie, I know you're not up to it, but can you watch over the restaurant for a while?" I asked. She nodded. "I'm going to the park to see Molly."

I walked up the street again. The park was a four-block (or canal, in this case) walk from both my house and the restaurant, and I found out a few days ago that that's where my pokemon would go to spar. It gave some of the citizens and the tourists something to watch from a safe distance away. Molly had been going to the park a lot lately, but by herself? That couldn't be right.

By now, the sun was up, shooting warm rays of sunlight over the flower-coated trees. I spotted Molly lying down on a picnic blanket a couple of meters away, with a gray-haired companion I could only recognize as Latios. I was about to confront them when somebody called my name from behind a tree.

'Morning, Calvin,' Latias said. 'You came to see Molly?'

'Uh, yeah....why are you hiding behind a tree?'

'Does it hurt to eavesdrop?'

"....scoot over."

She happily agreed, and we watched the two from our vantage point.

"What have they been talking about?" I whispered.

'Nothing in particular, but I did manage to overhear them talking about you.'

"Like I didn't see that coming. Was it good or bad?

'Let's put it this way....Molly doesn't know what's going to happen when you go on that search.'

"Honestly, I don't know either," I sat down, back against the tree trunk. "Molly has always been closest to me, you know that, and I love her. Whatever she's been through the last three years would have been devastating for her, and since she was only eight at the time she was kidnapped, it should have. Things like that will haunt her for the rest of her life if I take her with me on the search, and they probably already do. I mean, look at her. Ever since she's been home, her mood has changed for the better. She's smiling again, laughing; I could almost say she was back to normal if it wasn't for the color of her hair. I want to keep it that way. But I don't know how at the moment."

Latias returned her stare to the two lying in the grass. I suddenly saw her face light up, and I quickly jumped to my feet.

"No, no, no," I said. "I know that look. You have an idea. So I'm going to go ahead and say no while I still can."

'You don't even know what my idea is,' She looked at me, discouraged. 'I'm trying to help _you_ out.'

"....okay. What's your idea?"

'What if....what if we watched her for you?'

"You know....that's not a bad idea," I said. "But don't you have other things to do, like....protect the city?"

'It's been pretty quiet these last few years, what could possibly happen in your absence?' If I knew that Latios's death was in a few short weeks, I would have told her there and then. This _is_ a flashback, remember?

'Come on, Latios seems to admire spending time with Molly, and I have yet to get to know her, so....' She gave me a look upon which I couldn't say no to.

"Okay, okay!" I surrendered. "Just make sure she's close to a phone when I call. Let me go tell her."

I walked out from behind the tree, and over to Molly and Latios. From here, I could tell that they were talking about me.

"Hey Molly," She looked up. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure dad," They both got up. Latios, finally noticing his sister's presence in the park, trotted off to seek her out. "What's up?"

"It's about the search," A worried look appeared on her face. We both sat down on the blanket again. "Listen, Molly, I don't want to expose you to that amount of trauma, presuming that I find the place that Danielle is being held. I don't want you to relive that experience again."

"What will happen to me?"

"You have more friends than you know," I looked back. She did too. Latios was looking at a set of trees which happened to be his sister's hideout. I turned back to Molly. She started to smile again. "They will look after you."

"Okay," She rested her head on my shoulder. "Dad, I don't want you to be gone for a long time."

"I won't," I said. "I promise to be back in a month and a half."

"How do you expect to search all of Sinnoh in a month and a half?"

"I have my fair share of friends, Molly," I ran my hand through her hair. "And I promise you, I will bring back Danielle."

Latios tapped me on my shoulder, Latias accompanying him, in a human form that I knew I'd seen somewhere before. 'You two were spying on us?!'

"Sorry Molly, I have to go, customers waiting," I got up, pulling her up with me. "Come by at twelve. Latios....good morning, I guess," He shot me a glare that sent a chill down my spine. "Okay then," I turned around, and whistled my way back to the city.

* * *

12:00 had come faster than I expected. When I told the customers that this was closing time, some of them shot me confused looks. I told them that we were closing to do some carpentry work. I obviously couldn't tell them that I was going to Sinnoh on a month and a half search for a long lost friend, so that horrible lie would have to do. Once they all left and my five remaining pokemon came by, I cleaned up, grabbed my backpack, and me and Millie stepped outside, and locked up.

"Hopefully this is the last time I have to lock these doors for a long period of time," I said to her.

Molly walked up the street, Latios with her, holding what looked like a coat. We met them halfway.

"Molly, what's this?"

"Dad, I know Sinnoh is going to be cold, so....I got this for you."

I took the coat from her, and put it on. It was a brown topcoat to match my brown hat. "Thanks, Molly."

I returned everyone to their pokeballs except for Millie and Mismagius, and kissed Molly on he forehead. "I'll call you as soon as I reach a phone, okay?"

She nodded, and I walked up the street to the docks.

**

* * *

**

I hope you enjoyed the first five chapters, because the next few are going to be very interesting as Calvin traverses through Sinnoh. Stay tuned and feel free to review!


	6. A Day With The Trio

**Two new chapters as of today. They're very subtle, so I hope you weren't expecting action.:D**

* * *

"Two weeks," I groaned. "Finally I can get off this damn boat."

I had misinterpreted how far away Sinnoh was from Alto Mare. We traveled halfway around the world, temperature dropping the more north we went, until we finally came to port at Sunyshore City. It was a beautiful morning in the solar-powered city, and I wanted so bad to look around the place, but I was on a search. It couldn't be helped. We walked across the gangway and on to the quarry, and onto a street in the heart of downtown. Looking up, I saw a maze of solar panels, clustered so tightly together that they formed pathways upon which people were walking on. I spotted a pokémon center and went inside to call Molly. Once I told her we arrived, we talked for a while and then we said our goodbyes.

"Where to start," I said on the way out of the pokémon center. "I could use some company."

I released Millie from her pokéball. Those last two weeks did wonders for her; the cuts on her back were nothing more than thin scars. Those would definitely heal, or get lost in a wave of new scales.

"What's this?"

I looked at a light post. From the lamp down, there were numerous flyers of missing people, many of them in their teens, some no more than Molly's age. "This must've been what Azelf was talking about. And it's getting worse," Some of the flyers looked less worn than others, suggesting that people were taken _away_ from this city. This was definitely not the place to look if we were to find missing people.

Someone was breathing incredibly heavy up the street, as if they had just finished running. We walked up, and took a look. There was a young boy, sitting in a bench on the side of the street. He was wearing an old t-shirt, and some navy-blue shorts, surprising for the weather. I would've thought it was anyone, but he was giving off an aura--an aura any person would feel if they had been exposed to legendary pokémon for the amount of time that I have.

"Uxie..." I muttered. He seemed to hear me, and spun around. He then groaned and made a run for it. "Millie!"

Millie lunged at him, wrapping her entire body around his, immobilizing him. He started to whimper, struggling against her grip.

"Calm down, I'm not trying to hurt you."

"H-How do you know my name then?"

It seems strange to say this, but Uxie and I have never actually met. Azelf told me that he was rarely seen, and that he spent most of his time at Lake Acuity. Arceus never questioned his absence, so I guess she deemed it okay for him to omit as much of the meetings as he wanted. I guess with him being "The Being of Knowledge" and all, he foresaw all of Arceus's news updates. Knowledge, in this case, must've also given him the ability to speak vocally.

"Azelf has told me all about you."

"How can I trust you?"

I thought for a second. "Millie, let him go."

She unraveled herself. He didn't run, so I guess he trusted me."

"Wait, how do you know about Azelf?" He started to back away.

"I'm Arceus's new aide."

* * *

We continued our walk down the street, Uxie looked like he knew where he was going, and I was completely lost. He held my hand and started to read it like a fortuneteller.

"Calvin Winthrop, age 29," He said. "Father, Restaurant Owner, Husband, and....yes," He ducked his voice down to a whisper. "Arceus's aide. Four years now."

"Um, where are we going?"

"The girls went to some clothing store across town," He said. "That's where we're headed."

"Girls? That must mean Azelf, and...."

"Mesprit. You know her."

"Yeah, it's just been a while," The phrase "see you soon" obviously means nothing nowadays. Mesprit, much like her counterpart, was absent from every meeting up to now. I hadn't seen her since we were in that hospital room and it made me wonder if she still knew me. I hadn't been this happy to see her....well actually I haven't been this happy since before Emmy passed.

"Here we are," We stopped in front of the store. From the window, I could see two pink and blue-haired girls standing all the way in the back.

"Uxie, if you're so smart, and don't take this the wrong way," I turned to him. "Why did you get caught so easily?"

His face turned red."I wasn't expecting a trainer to just come out of nowhere and utter my name!"

"Of course you weren't."

I walked inside, leaving Millie and Uxie outside, and made my way to the back of the store. Azelf had gone off to somewhere deeper in the store, leaving Mesprit in an aisle, picking out shirts and holding them to herself.

"No, this doesn't look good," She put one shirt back and then tried another. "These humans have no sense of fashion!"

I walked into the opposite aisle, and picked a shirt just for the hell of it. "Here, you can try this one."

She looked at the shirt, and then gave me a disturbing look. "I can't be seen wearing that, I..." She took one good look at me, which was all it took. "Calvin?!" She walked slowly around the aisle to get a better look at me, and then ran to hug me. Even in her human form, her emotional effects still worked, and I found myself feeling quite content. "I haven't seen you in years!"

"Me neither...."

"Oh, I'm sorry" She said. "It's just that...after I went back to my lake I just fell asleep and...well, I hadn't reawakened until yesterday"

"That's some sleep."

We walked across the store, having to pull Azelf out of her frenzy with shoes. I paid for whatever they wanted, and we all left. When we got outside, Azelf shot Uxie a nasty glare, and then whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was, it made him shiver. We walked up a street to what looked like exit out of the city.

"Calvin, how's it been?" Mesprit asked. "Uxie told me everything."

"Well, I've got to say, it's been really hard these last few years," I said. "You remember my daughter Molly? And Danielle?" She nodded. "A year later, they were kidnapped. I spent the next three years searching the world for them, and a few weeks ago, Molly returned, hair turned blue, she was in too much distress to tell me where Danielle was, so here I am, looking for her."

"I'm glad she's okay," She said. "You did yourself a favor by narrowing your search to Sinnoh."

We walked along the shoreline following Sunyshore City, the sea breeze feeling especially good on my face, despite the fact that it was about 55 degrees where we were walking. We soon came up a set of stairs and passed through a resort. My guess was that we were headed to Lake Valor.

* * *

The trio changed back into their true forms upon arrival. Azelf turned to look at Uxie, death in her eyes.

"Mesprit, what's wrong with Azelf?"

'She gets like this when Uxie messes something up.'

"What did he do?"

'Remember when you found Uxie earlier?' I nodded. 'Well, she says that it could have been anybody, and he or she could've ordered Uxie to look for us, and...you know the rest.'

Azelf growled at him, and for a second it actually sounded intimidating. He hid behind me. Azelf shrugged, and dove beneath her lake.

"Why drag me into this?"

Millie curled herself up next to the edge of the water. I released all of my pokémon; we wouldn't start until tomorrow, since the day had gone by.

"Millie needs a lot of rest," I said. "She's still recovering from some injuries she got a month ago."

'Aww,' Uxie glided over to see her. Once he was close enough to the ground, the tip of his tail landed in the water, upon which his blue companion yanked him beneath its surface.

"This is going to be a long night."


	7. A Night To Remember

Uxie and Azelf had been underwater for hours. The sun had set, and now the moon and the stars filled the sky. The temperature dropped into the low thirties, which was unusually warm for Sinnoh. Either way, I needed a campfire. I gathered some twigs, tree limbs, and some tree bark from wherever I could find it. It had been a while since I was out in the wilderness, but it felt good knowing that my knowledge of survival prevailed.

"Typhlosion," I called. "I need one small ember, please."

The word 'small' meant nothing to him. He inhaled, and shot a fireball down at the pile of wood. They immediately burst into flames, the resulting cinders burning my nose. If anyone wanted to see a grown man cry, that would have been a great time.

"Okay," I sniffed. "Mesprit, you can look now."

She opened her eyes. "Wow," She flew around, almost as if she was examining my work. 'Calvin, you really outdid yourself....are you crying?'

"I'm in admiration of my work."

Uxie rose out of the lake, and came to join us. 'Hello, everyone.'

"Uxie, what have you and Azelf been doing all this time?" I asked.

"Well, at first, she was strangling me, then she started hitting me, then I yelled at her, and she stopped."

"Wow, what did you say?"

"I said "well maybe it's just you!" and she stopped and started crying."

"Hey!" That was a line I used with Emmy. It only worked three times in our entire marriage, the remaining twelve times that I said it, she ended up throwing pots at me. It improved my dodging skills, though. "You got that from me!"

'It looked like it worked,' He went on. 'She's sleeping now.'

I yawned. "Guess I should be too," I unraveled my sleeping bag, and placed it next to the campfire. Millie joined me. I took one last look at the stars and closed my eyes. "Goodnight."

* * *

I opened my eyes. The irritating surface that my head was resting on happened to be the bar at the restaurant. Wait, the restaurant? I looked up. Indeed, I was there. The tables had been cleaned, chairs turned up, and blinds closed, just the way I had left it. "I could've sworn I was in Sinnoh."

I looked down. There was a large figure laying there, in vibrant colors of red, blue and tan. "Millie? Wake up!"

She woke up, equally confused at her location.

"We must be sharing the same dream, I guess. Come on."

I opened the door and walked out onto the street. We were back in Alto Mare, but the city was unusually quiet, except for the running water from the canals nearby. The reason for that was because there were no inhabitants, and even if I was away from home and dreaming, that still raised a red flag.

"I would really love to know what's going on here," I said as we walked down the street.

"Me too."

"First, we should head back to the--" I stumbled, finally noticing who responded to my statement. "Millie....did you just...speak?!"

She turned to me. "I believe so. What do you make of it?"

"Oh, we're definitely in a dream! We have to head back to the house."

* * *

I unlocked the door and walked inside. I heard some sounds coming from the kitchen. "Molly?"

The sounds stopped, but were immediately followed by footsteps, and then Molly's face appeared at the doorway. "Dad! You made it!" She ran to hug me.

"Look at your hair!" Her hair had returned to her natural mahogany brown color. "How is this happening? We can't _all_ be having the same dream."

"It's a dreamshare!" Ah, right. The Lati's were gifted with the unique ability of interaction through the subconscious state, or in this case, dreamsharing. "I asked Latias to include you in this one."

"Where is she, by the way?"

"At the park."

* * *

"Glad you could make it, Calvin," Latias hugged me upon arrival. She spoke without telepathy, and with a human voice just like it.

"How is this happening? I thought dreamshares didn't work long distance!"

"Who told you that?" She asked.

"Latios...." Mental headslap. Why didn't I see that coming? "Anyway, where are all the people?"

"It's very stressful to generate thousands of random people," She said. "There's also the possibility of bringing a person from the real world here."

"Do you want to know where Latios is?" She asked.

"Okay, I'll bite." I looked around. Either he was invisible or was somewhere in the city. "Sure."

"He's somewhere underwater, in one of the canals."

"Okay, that skims it down."

So with no customers to serve and no worry of losing daylight, Me and Millie trekked back into the city. She started humming quietly to break the silence. Since since she was able to talk, we should have been having a conversation, and there was something that I wanted to know from her.

"Millie, I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"Remember when you returned home from running your errand?" She nodded. "How exactly did you get injured...?"

She sighed. "I was ambushed by poachers."

"How do you know?"

"I was on dry land," She said. "They just came out of nowhere, threw nets over me. I barely escaped, but when they found out, they attacked me with their pokémon," She stopped, tears welling up in her eyes. "After a while I knew I couldn't win, so I dove into the water, and came back to you."

I rubbed her nose. "It's okay, Mil'. Honestly. I'm just glad that you made it back home and you're okay."

She smiled and rubbed her head against mine in appreciation.

We were standing on a bridge. When I turned to look down at the water, I saw a dark figure shoot past us, just under the surface of the water. "Latios!" I turned to Millie. She had already prepared herself for a swim. "Let's go!" I jumped over the railing and into the water. She followed. I grabbed a hold of her, and she immediately started to follow him.

Latios's body was aerodynamic, so it made him cut through the water as easily as the air. But I trained Millie well, and she seemed to have trained herself on numerous errands. We started to catch up to him, this I'll never know how, he obviously moved ten times faster than the speed we were going. When I looked up, we were passing through a totally unfamiliar part of the city to me. If this was a depiction of Alto Mare, then I obviously didn't know as much as I thought.

'Why run?' I thought to him.

'Who said anything about running?'

He jumped out of the water and landed on a bridge. We followed.

"Now that I've gotten your attention, I want to talk to you."

I looked around, hoping that he was talking to somebody else. Of all people(and this is a figure of speech), I didn't make the list of who Latios wanted to talk to.

"Yes you!" He growled. "Why did you go on this search?"

"I'm looking for Danielle, didn't I tell you?"

"Oh, your neglected employee."

"I didn't neglect--"

"_Yes _you _did._" He said. " I've been watching you for the entire first year as Arceus's aide, and I must say, it was a bit unpleasant between you two at times."

"Okay. I don't feel at ease," I said. "She's somewhere in Sinnoh, probably dying. She needs to be rescued, along with whoever else was kidnapped."

"Sounds to me like you're looking for closure."

"I'm not," I said. "I just want to apologize. It's going to be hard giving her back three years of her life, but it's still the right thing to do."

He shrugged. "This won't change the way I feel about you, but I admire you for your perseverance," He took to the sky, leaving me lost in this part of town.

"Wait!" I yelled. "How do I get back to the park?"

"That's for you to figure out."

He flew away.

"Millie, please tell me you remember where we came from?" I asked her.

"Fortunately."

* * *

"Latias, Can I get a minute alone with Molly?" I asked.

"Sure."

We walked, hand in hand, deeper into the park. Despite the eerie silence, the trees and flowers made up for it.

"So Molly, how are you doing?"

"Great!" She said. "They're the best. I still wish you were here though. At home."

"You know I want to, but I have to look for Danielle."

"You know, I think that she would be touched that you're doing this for her."

"Touched enough to forgive me?" I asked.

"No."

"Worth a shot."

"...Dad," Her smile faded. "I really wish I could help you, it's just that....those things they did to us....every time I start talking about it, it brings back horrible memories."

"Molly, you _are_helping," I knelt to her eye level. "You finding your way home and telling me that Danielle is still alive is help enough. All you have to do is sit tight, and I promise you that I will be back home with her by my side. And I'm going to keep that promise one way or another."

"Thanks dad," She hugged me. I hugged back.

"Time to wake up, Calvin," Latias appeared behind us. "I'm....I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"No, we're good," I stood up. "Time to go already?"

"Yeah, you spent your time chasing after Latios and me and Molly had our own little fun. Millie's waiting for you when you wake up"

"I guess this is goodbye for now," I said to the two of them. "How do I wake up again?"

Latias told me that all I needed to do was close my eyes. I waved goodbye, closed my eyes, and with a sudden flash, I reopened them, and was back at Lake Valor.


	8. The Day In Veilstone

**Apparently my backup died. The backup, yes. So now I have to rewrite all the chapters by hand. There are only two relatively short chapters in this story, and this is one of them.**

* * *

'Finally, you're awake,' Mesprit said as she floated over my head. 'You're a heavy sleeper.'

I sat up and yawned.

'You were smiling while you were sleeping,' She went on. 'Did you have a good dream?'

"Very," I got up, and put my coat back on. The morning was still young, but the temperature hadn't changed yet. I rolled up my sleeping bag. In the process, I noticed Uxie hovering near the lake. "Uxie? Problem?"

'I'm waiting for Azelf to wake up.'

There was a pause. I scratched my head and tried to figure out if he just said that or not. Azelf was not a morning person, and she always told me about how Uxie used to wake her up. Cranky, she would vent some force of anger out on him, until Mesprit came to calm her down. So my reason for confusion was intentional, because I was actually concerned about him.

"Um, okay....good luck with that."

I walked over to Millie. She was just waking up. "You okay, Mil'?"

She happily nodded. Our little conversation looked like it did wonders for her. I turned back to say something to Mesprit, who was about to say something herself.

"You first."

'Is it okay if I join you on your search?' She asked. 'Please? I haven't done anything major in a while.'

"Oh...I guess so, but...what about Uxie?"

She was about to say something when Azelf rose out of her lake. She looked at Uxie, who became nervous just being in her presence. She gritted her teeth, squinted, and uttered something in pokemon speech, which shocked both him and Mesprit.

"What? What did she say?"

'She said....I'm sorry,' Wow, it worked. A trick of mine actually worked. I should've been a therapist; I would've made a fortune! 'I heard that, Calvin.'

"Well I would have," She chuckled. Azelf and Uxie Joined us. "No more fighting?"

'No,' Azelf said. 'I think we'll be...fine while you two are away.'

'I discussed it with Uxie last night,' She said, reassuring me. 'Uxie wasn't okay with it at first, but it looks like he's changed his mind.'

I returned everyone except Staraptor this time, to their pokéballs and grabbed my backpack. Mesprit changed into her human form, new clothes on. We waved goodbye to Azelf and Uxie and walked back out to the route and turned north. The walk was very exhilarating. The fresh smell from the pine trees and the birds chirping made it all worth the moment. I pulled a slice of bread out of my bag, broke a piece off, and held it in my hand. Almost immediately, a Starly landed on my arm and started eating. Mesprit walked alongside in amazement.

"Calvin, I didn't know you were so in tune with nature," She said.

"The city life hasn't grown on me," The Starly had finished eating, and was ready for flight again. I waved my arm, giving him a boost and in no time he was flying alongside Staraptor. "I may go to formal parties, dress in nice clothes, and manage a restaurant, but when I'm out in the wilderness, it just comes out."

The sun rolled across the sky, turning morning into noon and doing nothing to help raise the temperature. Veilstone finally started to appear over the trees. The smell of the pines diminished, and the smell of concrete and steel entered my nostrils once again.

* * *

There was also another smell in the air when we entered Veilstone: desperation. You wonder why I say that? Well, it's because of the game corner. A lot of people went there and spent all their money, and most of the time, came out with nothing in return. In my younger days as a trainer, I tried my luck at the game corner, but I was no good at it, and ended up screwing myself over every time. Now as an adult, I see no point to it anymore, but its interest will always linger in my mind. We walked up the street to the pokemon center to call Molly. Staraptor landed and followed me inside.

"Dad, where are you?" She asked. "It's really loud."

"Veilstone City," I ducked down to a whisper. "Mesprit is joining us for the search."

"Dad, can I just tell you how cool that is?" She said. "Can I meet her?"

I got up so that Mesprit could sit down. "Hi, Molly."

"Wow, it's an honor to meet you," Molly said.

"Same here, your dad has told me all about you."

I spotted two people at a light post on the sidewalk outside. They were hanging what looked like a 'missing' flyer next to over a dozen more. I walked out to look at it. "Is this your daughter?"

"Yes," The lady sniffed. The man next to her, presumably her husband, wrapped his arms around her. "She went missing two weeks ago. We've reported it to the police, but with all the other missing cases, all we can do is wait."

"Codie Howard, Age 8," I skimmed through the paper until I came down to the location of the kidnapping. "Sangdem Town?"

They both nodded. I looked at other flyers. Two from Veilstone, two from Pastoria, three from Jubilife, and seven from Eterna City. "This is wide scale." I reassured then that they would find their daughter soon. They smiled, and continued their walk down the street. Looking across, I saw two men in gray and black suits chatting amongst themselves and walking in the same direction. The suits....the men that were trying to capture Mesprit four years ago were wearing the same thing. I clenched my fists.

"Calvin...."

I turned around. Mesprit stood there, petrified by the two men. I walked over to her.

"Mesprit, calm down, they're not going to hurt you," She nodded. "But I do have a feeling that they have something to do with this," Looking up the street to see where they were headed, I saw a large blue building perched high on a hill, laced in numerous satellite dishes and spikes--yes I said it. Large gray spikes. They were protruding from the sides of the building like ledges. On the front, the letter "G" hung, colored in gold and glimmering in the sun. The building blanketed the city in uneasiness.

"Our answers don't lie here, but in another city," And so, our journey continued. From the flyers, we had a few possible visiting places, but I would need a map in order to find out where they were, and a pair of binoculars just in case. We went to the mall and purchased these two items, and walked up the street to the western gate.

* * *

**For all of the people who have read the story so far, I applaud you. Don't hesitate to review though! I'll accept any review, good or bad. The story gets better from here, I guarantee it.**


	9. Distorted Vision

**Chapter 9, rewritten and modified slightly. I added a "deleted scene" so to say, that involves Calvin and Mesprit. Enjoy!**

* * *

Rain. Nothing but thunder, lightning, and penny-sized rain droplets since we left Veilstone a few days ago. In the rush to get out of town, I had failed to look at a weather advisory while purchasing the pair of binoculars, so now we--actually I, was getting soaked now. Mesprit was sleeping on my backpack in pokémon form, protecting herself from the rain with a psychic shield. Mismagius, whom I'd swapped out with Staraptor in fear that he would get clipped by lightning, went intangible from time to time, the rain passing harmlessly through her.

"You're _so_ lucky," I said to her. She chuckled.

We came to a fork in the road. I opened up the map, which unraveled to my legs. It was laminated to protect it against the rain. "Let's see....we must be here, at the junction of route 215 and route 210. If we keep walking....north, we should reach Celestic Town." The first stop on our list after passing through Celestic Town would be Eterna City. That's where the most kidnappings were and a liable place to start looking. I took the route to the left and headed north. Shortly after, I came across an impasse.

"Oh, great," The route had flooded over. I looked up to the sky, and filled my lungs with air. "Why are you doing this to me?!"

I picked off a long tree limb and stuck it into the tater. I almost fell in myself. "Damn, that's deep!" I released Millie from her pokéball. "Millie, we need a lift across this....lake. Could you lend us a hand?" She nodded. I climbed onto her back, trying to displace as much weight as possible. When that was done, she strode across the water.

Mesprit woke up. 'Calvin....where are we?'

"Uh, route 210--crap!" The map slipped out of my hand and floated on the surface of the water. "Hold on a second Millie, I dropped the map."

'Wait....Calvin, don't go back there,' Mesprit said.

"Why not?"

'A portal is opening!'

Just then, the surface of the water flashed and soon the map started swirling around, as if someone just pulled a drainage plug underwater. By now, Millie had turned around and went back towards the map. I reached out towards it when it came around the swirl. "Almost got it...." I grabbed the tip by the edge of my finger. "Yes!"

I reeled my arm back in, when the water congealed itself, and wrapped around my arm. "What the hell?"

'Calvin, quick, pull your arm back in!'

"I'm....trying!" I tugged at my arm, but it didn't budge. "Mismagius, use psybeam!"

That didn't help at all; instead, it made it worse. The water crept up my arm, almost consuming it whole. Then, without warning, I was yanked off of Millie's back and was pulled underneath the water.

'Calvin!' Even with telepathy, Mesprit's voice was drowned out.

* * *

I opened my eyes, which didn't make much of a difference, because it was still dark. My head was resting on a rocky surface, probably the inside of a cave or something. The others must have rescued me. "Mesprit? Millie?" I called. "Mismagius?" No response. I pulled myself up, and started to walk by using the walls as my guide. I could hear running water nearby, so that's probably where they went.

As I walked, I noticed that my bag was becoming increasingly lighter, and I soon started to lose my own grip on the ground. The sound of eater grew louder, so I reached into my backpack and pulled out a flashlight. No water on the ground. Something told me to look up, and when I did, the water was flowing harmlessly above me.

'Must've hit my head,' I thought.

I was almost floating now. I let go of the flashlight, and watched as it hovered in midair in front of me.

"What in the hell...."

'Calvin, there you are!' Mesprit appeared, making me jump back. In the process, I accidentally hit the flashlight, and it floated up into the stream of water and short-circuited. Everything went dark again.

"Mesprit!"

'Sorry.'

"Okay, so you're in this hallucination too?" I asked.

'This _isn't_ a hallucination, Calvin,' She said. 'Remember that portal I mentioned before? Well it looks like it must've lead to the Distortion World.'

"What?!" I had heard about the Distortion World once or twice from Arceus, and from the way she described it, it wasn't exactly what you would call "the world's best vacation spot". Just getting here was tricky; since it was on the reverse side of our world, portals would usually open in mirrors, or surfaces that make very good reflections. That's what Mesprit must've been talking about before. The water served as a mirror, and so a portal opened. There were only two ways out of here. Either find another open portal, which could've been anywhere, or find Giratina, the only one who lives here.

"I've come too far to get sidetracked now!"

'Follow me.'

She led me back to the exit, where Millie and Mismagius were waiting. I greeted them, and they were relieved that I was okay. I looked around. From the forest that we previously traversed, this world shaped it in a different way. Trees were scattered all around, but some were twisted, or floating on rocks. The mountain range went on as it regularly did, but then mirrored itself, similar to how it does on water. The sky was endless, spread out far and high, and even below us. Thunder crackled across the overcast, but no rain fell. Speaking of water, the water from inside the cave flowed out, and turned at a 90 degree angle and kept running upwards at the same pace.

'I've been here once or twice,' Mesprit said. 'I think I might know where Giratina is.'

She and Mismagius flew out. 'Come on Calvin! Gravity isn't a factor in this part!'

* * *

Figuratively, since time didn't move in this dimension, we searched for hours, mostly on one path so that the gravity bomb wasn't dropped on us. No sign of Giratina anywhere. If he was helping us, he had to have been somewhere around northern Sinnoh, so that's where we went, a journey that would've lasted weeks if it hadn't been for this mishap. The temperature dropped rapidly. Soon trees started appearing again, but with snow on them. We stopped on a rock, covered in snow.

Despite the fact that time stood still, my watch kept going at a regular pace. It read 10:33. "We should stop and get some rest."

'Rest?' Mesprit asked.

"As much as I want to get out of here, we can't find Giratina unless we're at full strength," I set my watch. "We can start looking again when my watch starts beeping."

Millie, unaffected by the weather, lay down on the cold surface. I cleared a spot of snow next to her, unraveled my sleeping bag, and fell into an uneasy sleep. I only reawakened three hours later, to a darkened sky. Maybe time didn't completely stop in this dimension, but it moved a few times slower than in the regular world so that it wasn't visible.

"Whoa," For a moment, it felt like I was standing on a rock in the middle of space. The moon and the stars filled the 360 degree sky. For a place that was so unwelcoming for humans, it sure portrayed beautiful views. The sight calmed me of my anxiety, and replaced it with curiosity and amazement.

'It's beautiful, isn't it?' Mesprit asked, floating by the edge of the rock, for a better view. I walked to her.

"Mesprit, how long have you been awake?" I asked.

'A few minutes,' She was shivering.

"Here, let me help you," I unbuttoned my coat, and wrapped her in it. Her body was pretty cold for just a few minutes. "Any better?"

'Very. Thanks.'

I nodded, and continued to look at the sky.

"Mesprit, if you had one wish, what would it be?" I asked.

'For more clothes,' We both had a good laugh from that. 'What about you?'

"For me," I said. "I _wanted_ to wish that Emmy never died. Our family would've been as it should be, and I would probably be serving customers in a few hours. But now that I think about it....it's just not worth it. If I made a checklist and wrote down all of the good things that would have happened if I made that wish, in general, I would have only come up with two things. If I didn't make the wish, I'd lose those things, which meant Emmy and Danielle's trust, but look at what I would have gained. A job I never asked for, but turned out for the best, and friends that are...almost...like another family to me. Plus, The chances of me saving you like I did four years ago are very slim, and that would've meant that you would be held captive all this time."

'True.'

"Danielle...." I went on. "Her trust is something I'm going to have to re-piece over time. I'm going to make it happen one way or another. And Emmy....she told me four years ago that she never left. And I kind of believe her. It doesn't really feel like she has."

Mesprit yawned. I walked back to my sleeping bag, still holding Mesprit, and laid down. Maybe this world wasn't as bad as I thought....

* * *

'Calvin, get up!' Mesprit relentlessly nudged at my side. My watch was beeping like crazy. Overcast clouded the 'morning' sky just like it did the day before.

"What's wrong, Mesprit?"

'I just saw Giratina!' I sprang to my feet, and quickly rolled up my sleeping bag.

"Where?"

She pointed across the endless belt of snow and rocks, until I saw the ghost of a dragon, maneuvering his way trough it. "Giratina!" I yelled. No use. "Dammit, he's too far away!" I returned Millie and Mismagius to their pokéballs and walked to the opposite edge of the rock. She followed me.

'Calvin, what are you going to do?'

"Mesprit, you may want to grab hold," She opened a compartment in my backpack and slipped inside. "I'm going to try something."

I ran towards the edge of the rock, front-flipped, and darted down into the snow belt. Anti-gravity was on my side.

"Mesprit, can you control where I'm headed?" We were on collision course with an excessively large rock.

She did so, and I swerved around the rock, barely missing it, and not losing any speed at all.

'There he is!'

But gravity took its toll. Out of nowhere, we started falling into the endless void. "Staraptor!" I released him. He looped, and caught us on his back. "Thanks for the save!"

Giratina perched himself on a rock. From this view, we could clearly take into note his change of appearance. His six massive legs were reduced to gold-tipped spikes protruding from his sides, four more on the tip of his tail, and his head plates wrapped around where his mouth should've been. His wings were replaced by six black streamers, tipped in red spikes. He looked a lot more terrifying here than he did in the other world.

'Calvin?' He called out. 'Is that you?'

"Yes it's me!" I jumped off of Staraptor's back and slit to a halt on the rock. Mesprit jumped out of my bag. "We've been looking all over for you."

'...why?'

'Because, a portal opened on route 210, and it sucked us in, and dropped us off here,' Mesprit said. 'Can you take us back?'

'Of course.'

* * *

"Thanks again, Star," I returned him to his pokéball. Giratina lay down so that I could climb onto his back. Once settled, he took off, going back in the direction we came from.

'Oh, by the way Calvin,' He continued. 'I've finished my part of the search. Your answers lie in Eterna City.'

"I knew it," That would explain the large number of kidnappings there. "Did you see anything suspicious?"

'Yeah, they were carrying a teenager into a unusual looking building there.'

I was on a roll right now. All of my theories were proving right after all. "So....it turns out that those men in suits _do_ have something to do with the mass abductions. And my search just got a bit easier," Now that I knew where the teenagers were, there was a good chance that Danielle would be held captive there too. "Thanks for the lead, Giratina."

'Anytime,' He stopped and opened up a portal. 'This is your stop, Calvin. Good luck.'

"Thanks," I jumped through the portal. Mesprit followed. We came out on the edge of a small town. The sun was just rising. Thank god there was no more rain.

'No map,' Mesprit muttered.

"That's okay, I don't need it. Judging by that shrine at the center of town, this should be...Celestic," I replied. "Come on, let's get something to eat."

She changed into her human form, and we both walked into town.

**

* * *

**

**Now that Calvin knows where to look, it's only three more chapters before he finds Danielle, and gets the shock of his life! Please review!**


	10. Secrets of Eterna

******Four new chapters today, which include Danielle's find. **I recovered the information from my backup and now the story is going to continue as usual! Sorry to say, but this is actually the midpoint of the story, so enjoy!

* * *

Celestic town was very quiet, and very welcoming upon arrival. Despite the fact that the knee-high fog gave it the appearance of a ghost town, there were people outside who didn't seem to notice it. Across the small street we were walking on, I spotted a diner, and we quickly went inside and got ourselves seated. Tea was on the house.

"Calvin, are you okay?" Mesprit asked. "Your hands...."

When I tried picking up the cup of tea, by hand started trembling irregularly. So, I used two hands. It didn't really make much of a difference.

I sighed. "Just a bit...nervous."

"About what?"

"Well, when Giratina told me the good news, I was quite happy that I was right on the money," I said. "But now reality is starting to kick in again."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I _mean_," I went on. "I have no idea _how_ we're going to save these missing people."

"Hey!" She whispered. "We _have_ come too far to get sidetracked, Calvin. If your mind is set on saving these missing people, then go for it. I mean, you haven't been to Eterna City yet, so you have to look around, gather information, and formulate a plan. And you'll have _me_ for backup."

"That's true."

A young female waitress came by to take our orders. She had a striking resemblance to Danielle, and it made me studder on every line I pronounced for our order. She blushed and walked back to the kitchen.

"What's gotten into you, Calvin?"

"She kind of reminds me of Danielle," I said.

"How did you guys meet in the first place?" Mesprit asked. "You and Danielle?"

"Oh...wow," I took one large gulp of tea and revved up for the story.

* * *

_"It was December of 1998. We were making some final adjustments to the restaurant, and preparing it for business for the New Year."_

It had been six years since we moved to the beautiful city of Alto Mare. That meant six years of me raising Molly, and an extra two for being a husband. But unfortunately, my lifestyle was slowly starting to become a little boring, so I invested some time and money, and acquired a lot in the city to build a restaurant. The place that had occupied the restaurant before was a small two-story furniture store. Chairs and tables were saved to make for new restaurant furniture, and everything else was used to make what is now the bar, and some of the ceiling art and light fixtures. The second floor was used for my office. A little place to get away from all the commotion. When the restaurant was finished, Molly put together a name, "Il Posto Per Godere", which when I found out, meant "The Place to Enjoy" in Italian. This attracted a number of civilians who today, are my regular customers.

I drilled the sign into an empty space on the wall in front of the restaurant. Just two more weeks until the 1999 unveiling, and my first day of management.

"Calvin, don't you think it could've gone a _little_ higher?" Emmy asked.

"Emmy, you know I love you, but," I took a deep breath. "Does it really matter?"

"Alright Calvin," She walked inside. "But don't complain to _me_ when your customers complain to _you_ about it!"

She left me, feeling a bit clueless. The mailman walked up to me.

"Mr....Winthrop?"

"Yes, that's me," Apart from the utility bills, there were two letters that interested me. One, a letter from the city inspector that green-flagged my restaurant for business, and another letter from a Daniel Stewart. "Hey Emmy, check this out," I walked inside. "I got a letter from a....Daniel Stewart, do we know him?"

"Calvin, he's a she," She said. "It's Dani_elle_ Stewart," I thought the extra "L" and "E" was just a fancy way of saying 'Daniel'. I'm glad she wasn't there to hear that.

"Dear Mr. Winthrop," I read. "I visited the city not too long ago as a tourist, and I saw this restaurant under construction. I was wondering if you were interested in having your first employee before unveiling next year. I will return on the 17th if you're interested. Sincerely, Danielle Stewart."

"Today's the 17th," Emmy nodded. "You knew?"

"I was here overseeing the construction, and she walked by, and we started to talk," She said. "She said that she was all the way from Saffron City, and I was quite shocked myself," So said the return address. "She's bound to be prepared for an interview, so you better get prepared yourself."

* * *

Emmy and I were up in my office. The walls had been redone, keeping some of the old patterns and designs like much of the other buildings across the city. There were bookshelves from the floor to the ceiling, and oddly enough, they were packed with books. The original owner must've had an obsession with old books. The rest of the furniture lay scattered around, some original, some of my own draped in cloth to prevent dust from getting on them.

"Emmy, are you okay?" I asked.

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"Your skin is pale," I said. "And yesterday you were coughing, are you sure--"

"Calvin, stop worrying," She buttoned my blazer, thus cutting off my circulation. I hadn't worn this suit since our marriage eight years ago. "I'm _fine_. Now you have an interview to attend," She kissed me. "I'll be up here if you need me."

"Daddy, the lady's here," Molly called from the door.

I followed Molly back downstairs. There was a teenager, maybe eighteen or nineteen, leaning against a table in a gray pants suit. Her hair was a mixture of brown and black, and at the time, barely inched past her shoulders. Her skin was slightly tanned to compliment her hair and her eyes--I'll never forget them--they were hard to see from a distance, but when I got closer, they were blue. Something about them spoke for her emotions, and right now, she was really nervous.

"Here she is, daddy," Molly said. Then she walked up to Danielle. "Can I call you Dani? It sounds weird calling you Danielle."

"Sure you can, I don't mind."

Molly walked back towards the stairs while I shook hands with Danielle.

* * *

The waitress came by again, bringing our orders. We began to eat.

"Her interview didn't last long," I said. "I wanted her to prove herself worthy for the job during the first week of business. I really think she deserved more than a job working "behind the counter", but unfortunately that's what she asked for."

Mesprit finished her breakfast, and she was sitting quietly, waiting for me. I looked at the waitress. She hadn't even gotten back to the counter yet. I ate fast what would give me a cramp later and paid for the bill and we left. Eterna City, barely from what I could remember, was directly to the east, and was a little more than four miles away, which translated to about two and a half hours at our pace. A short walk down the route, and we spotted a cave entrance. I looked up, and the mountain range concealing Mt. Coronet stood like a wall, almost as if protecting Eastern Sinnoh. I released Typhlosion.

"It could get dark, so you should lead the way." He ignited the flames on his neck and walked into the cave. We followed.

"Back when I was born," I'm guessing that she was referring to when Arceus created her. "I used to wander these caves endlessly. They criss-crossed through the mountain like a maze. One day I got lost and I didn't know how to get out, and I ran into two Medicham. Azelf must've heard my cries for help, because she came to rescue me. We've been friends since that day."

"How did you meet Uxie?" I asked. "It's not a 'trio' without him."

"He and Azelf met by accident, so she's been nice enough to make him our friend, but...."

"She has no respect for him?" I chuckled.

"Up until she apologized."

An hour and a half later, the light finally appeared at the end of the path. We exited the cave. Eterna was definitely in sight now, but was at least another mile away. Our stay there was going to be at least a few days, so I needed to book a room at a hotel. I released Staraptor.

"Scout the city and see if you can find anything suspicious," He took to the sky. "Giratina said he saw a weird building here, he just didn't say where."

"What do we do in the meantime?"

"Call Molly."

* * *

"Isn't Eterna that city with the big statues of Dialga and Palkia?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," I said. She obviously knew this too, from past experience. "We should go there to waste time."

"Waste time for what?" She asked.

I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Giratina gave us a lead as to where Danielle might be."

"That's great," She said. "When you rescue her, tell her that I'm okay."

"I will," Mesprit nudged my shoulder. She obviously wanted to talk to Molly. While they got lost in the moment, I turned around. Staraptor was standing at the front doors of the pokémon center, waiting for me to notice him. I walked to the doors. "What did you find?"

He pointed me in the right direction, and urged me to follow. I couldn't leave Mesprit behind, so instead I released Mismagius. "Mismagius, you always know how to find Staraptor. Can you lead Mesprit to him after she's done?"

She nodded. Staraptor took to the air, and I followed him from the street.

* * *

We hid ourselves behind some crates, which were stacked up behind the building Giratina was talking about. It looked almost exactly like the one I saw in Veilstone. "Big corporation involved in some shady business."

We ducked. Two guys were carrying a teenage boy through a loading dock. They were wearing those gray and black clothes, and they instantly remembered this from the ones I saw in Veilstone. Just seeing them with that kid pissed me off.

'What do they plan to achieve by kidnapping all of these people?' From the looks of it, it wasn't anything good. I was curious to find out. ''We're going to have to find a way inside...but not now,'' Maybe at night, when security was low. "Come on Star, let's meet up with Mismagius and Mesprit."

We left the building. Staraptor took to the sky again, spotting the two and leading me towards the statues of Dialga and Palkia. Tourists were gathered around the statues, fascinated by them and taking pictures. It didn't make a difference to me, because I usually saw the real ones up close on occasion.

"Calvin! Over here!" I spotted Mesprit waving at me. I walked over. "So how did everything go?"

"We've got to get a closer look," I said. "There's not much to see from the outside of that building."

I got us some drinks and we sat on the steps leading up to the statues. A plan I formulated on the way back was very simple through my eyes: Mesprit and I would walk into the base undetected because of her invisibility, maybe through the loading dock; the front door seemed too casual. We would then search the compound for the missing teenagers, rescue them, and escape undetected. Hopefully. In that wave of teenagers, I should find Danielle, and from there I could work out my apology.

"You make it sound so easy," She giggled.

"It'll be easier if it works."

"Well you've got my vote."

She threw her drink in the garbage and stood up. I hadn't even gotten to half of mine and she was already done? "Mesprit, how do you keep doing that?"

"Um, you might not want to know," She said. "Anyway, when is this going to happen?"

"Give me a day, I need some preparation."

The day rolled by. I wanted to be alone for a bit, so I gave Mesprit my credit card and she ran off towards a group of stores. Mismagius followed her so that we could regroup later. I walked through town, looking at the light posts that I passed. Once again, there were flyers of missing people on them. Their lives would be saved, no doubt, but as I thought about it, it didn't make sense for me to prepare for an entire day while they were being tortured, or dragged into whatever sick plan those gray-black suited men had in store for them. I turned around, and walked to the hotel and checked in. The sound of the bell from the elevator said that it was my floor, and I got off and walked to the room. Mesprit approached me from the opposite direction, bare-handed. Mismagius followed from close behind. "There you are, Calvin."

"That was fast. You sound disappointed."

"There was nothing to buy," She said. "I bet it would've been better in Veilstone."

"Mesprit...we have to go today."

"We're leaving already?"

"No," I groaned. "We have to work my plan tonight."

"Why the sudden change of date?"

"I've been thinking," I continued. "Anything can happen in the next 24 hours if we don't find those teenagers."

"That's true....well I'm ready for some action if you are."

"You're the best."


	11. Liberation

**Chapters eleven and twelve act as a part one and a part two, but with different names to match the relevance of the chapter. They also sounded cool.:D**

* * *

It was sometime around one in the morning when I reawakened and got ready for the mission. I woke everyone up, returned them to their pokéballs, and me and Mesprit left the hotel unnoticed. The night was cold and windy, and even with my coat on, I was freezing. We walked back to the blue building and went around the back to the loading dock. We hid behind some crates like the previous afternoon.

"Okay so how does this invisibility thing work, Mesprit?" I asked.

"It's simple," She changed back into her pokémon form, and then disappeared into the night air.

"Mesprit?"

'I'm still here,' She tugged my arm, and revealed herself. 'Now we're both invisible.'

"Nothing happened."

Two guys were approaching. She urged me to follow her out into their path. I trusted her, and followed. Nothing happened. They harmlessly walked past us.

"Okay, you've convinced me," I whispered. "Let's get inside."

The door on the loading dock had been left half open, probably for some midnight 'deliveries'. We slipped under it, and got inside. To the far left there was an elevator, a set of stairs leading downwards, and in front of me there was another door, some sort of scanner next to it. I could've taken the elevator, but that would've attracted too much attention.

"The stairs it is," I said.

We walked down six flights of stairs, to hallway lit well by fluorescent lights. The building may have looked simple on the outside, but underground was a labyrinth of hallways and rooms, most likely leading further beneath the city. This would've made kidnapping all too easy in Eterna.

'Calvin, where do you think they are?' Mesprit asked.

"I'm not sure, we may have to go down some more."

I walked past a window. There was a large open space behind it. When I looked down, there was a pokémon arena. "Interesting."

Three of those gray and black-suited men came out of the room up ahead, carrying the teenager I saw earlier. We moved out of the way so that they could pass, and they made their way back towards the stairs. Even though they couldn't see us, Mesprit felt uneasy being in their presence.

"They look like they know," I whispered. "Let's follow them."

We followed them down five more flights of stairs to a level not as well lit as the other. This gave off a green light for the holding cells.

"Put him in here," One guy said. Another pulled out a card and swiped it in the scanner next to the door. I'd probably need that.

"Let me go!" A young female voice yelled. What sounded like chain links started clinking in the process.

There were sounds of a fight. The other two guys ran in to help the other. There was a scream, and then nothing else. I released Mismagius.

"Wait for it," I whispered.

The three men emerged, breathing heavily and now in shock that a Mismagius appeared in front of them.

"What the--"

"Hypnosis!"

Their eyes bulged, and then they collapsed, sound asleep. I pulled the card out of his hand, and swiped it in the scanner.

'Calvin, don't you think I should go in first?' Mesprit asked.

"Nonsense. They're just teenagers; this will only wake a second."

I walked into the room. There was no lighting in there.

"Hello?" I whispered. "Are you alright?"

There was a slight groan, and then what felt like a foot, hit me in the chest, propelling me backwards onto the ground in the hallway. I coughed.

'This will only take a second,' She said mockingly.

I got up, caught my breath, and brushed myself off. ''What the hell was that for? I'm trying to help you.''

"I don't trust any of you Galactic bastards!" Galactic? Oh....that would explain the letter "G" on these men's suits and on the front of the building up above and in Veilstone. _Team_ Galactic, I'm guessing.

"I'm not one of these guys. I'm here to rescue you."

I walked back into the room. "Come on, it's okay."

"I don't trust you."

"Okay then, ask yourself this question," I said. "How many people have come by and said that they were rescuing you?"

There was a moment of silence, and then she grabbed my arm. This was becoming easier and easier.

"They brought someone else in here," She said. "A boy."

"Okay you go outside and wait in the hall, I'll look for him," I couldn't see, so instead I crouched and felt the ground. It took me a while, but I found him.

"Mismagius, lead her outside," She nodded. "Mesprit, can you take care of this guy?"

"Okay," She said. "You're going on?"

"Yeah, this is the floor. There are about sixteen more people missing, including these two. I'll send Staraptor, Millie, Electivire, and Typhlosion back with four each, and me and Gallade will look for Danielle," I released him.

'Be careful.'

"I will," We walked down the hallway.


	12. Malevolence

**Calvin finally finds Danielle! But as always, there's a catch....hence the name of the chapter and reference to a few chapters back, you'll see why!**

* * *

We spent the next three and a half hours searching the maze of hallways for the missing teenagers. We accomplished getting fifteen out of sixteen, and there were still a few rooms to check. We went around in circles a few times, and in the process, there was no sign of Danielle. She had to be somewhere in this base, and now we were running out of night time. We also started to run into some guards on the way, which were armed with pokémon. We disarmed them quickly so that they didn't raise the alarm.

"Another one."

I swiped the card, the doors opened, and I walked in. The lights were out, out in all these rooms actually. "Anyone in here?"

I heard a slight moan come from my right, and I made out a young girl, chained to the wall by ankle. Team Galactic's motives made absolutely no sense to me, but I didn't have time to question them. "Just calm down, I'm here to rescue you. Gallade..."

A little bit of psychic, and that chain was nothing more than broken links. "Can you walk?"

"I...I don't think so."

"Hold on..." I released Electivire. "Electivire, carry this girl back to the other three. Then Mesprit will lead you in the right direction."

He picked her up and walked out into the hall. Me and Gallade continued running in the opposite direction.

"That's the last one. Now for Danielle."

I looked at my watch. It was 5:02. The sun was probably rising right about now in this hemisphere. This wasn't going to end well.

"Gallade, we have to hurry if we want to find--" I turned around. He wasn't there. "Gallade?" No, we couldn't get separated now.

I ran back down the hallway, and saw a separate room. The doors were cut open, and he was standing in front of some sort of cell, with blue glowing walls. There was a Gardevoir on the other side.

"Might as well help."

First instinct of a supercomputer: If you don't know how to use it, break it. It's a fifty-fifty chance that doing so may only make matters worse, but when you're running out of time, there's no choice. "Gallade, Psycho Cut."

Luck was on our side. The computer went down, and so did the walls. The Gardevoir collapsed to the floor, upon which Gallade picked her up.

"Time to go."

* * *

No publicity, thank god. All I wanted was a pat on the back and a safe trip back to Alto Mare, and I would soon get my wish. Tons of parents rushed into the pokémon center after their kids called them. It was, however, nice to see their faces light up when their parents arrived.

I picked up the phone and called Molly. No answer. I re-called several times, but no one picked up. Then I realized something. I'd forgotten about Danielle in the hustle. What would I tell Molly now?

"We have to go back," I told Gallade, who was getting ready to tell me something. "What is it?"

He dragged me outside to the back of the pokémon center, where he and the Gardevoir were. She was just starting to wake up.

"Oh, that's right." She opened her eyes. It was funny how Gallade took notice to her before I did.

He helped her up. She rubbed her head, and then looked towards me.

A look of fear erupted. My smile faded.

That look was followed by an excessive amount of anger, so much, that small rocks had started to levitate.

It was hatred.

It was clear to me who this Gardevoir actually was. I didn't 'forget' about Danielle in the rush, I subconsciously knew that I had just found her.

The Gardevoir from my dream.

"D...Danielle..."

'Ding ding ding.'

I was swept off of my feet, and was thrown back into the side of one of the buildings next door. I fell to the ground and blacked out.

* * *

_"Calvin..."_

I opened my eyes. It looked like the same day, but a quick glance at my watch told me that another day had passed.

"Welcome back," Mesprit was sitting next to me. "You took quite a blow."

"What happened, exactly?"

"Well, Danielle sent you flying into a building, and you went unconscious. She was getting ready to attack you again when Gallade stopped her."

"Is she....wait, she was actually a Gardevoir?!" God, I'd hoped that I was dreaming.

"Yes....she's still really mad at you, Calvin," She said. "It took us all day yesterday to calm her down."

"Where is she?"

"Gallade told me not to tell you, for your own safety."

That was all I needed to hear. I covered my face in my hands. There was no way I could apologize now.

I put my coat on and left the room, walked downstairs, and out of the hotel. I spotted Danielle leaning on the railing from the roof. She looked down at me, and then looked elsewhere. I wanted to say something, but it wouldn't have made a difference, so I walked up the street to the pokémon center in an attempt to call Molly again.

"Come on, Molly, where are you?" The phone rang, but no one answered. I tried three more times, and then finally left a message. "Molly, this is your dad. I just want to let you know...I found Danielle, and...you were right, she hates me. I'm on my way back home, so I'll call you from Celestic Town." I hung up, and left the pokémon center.

* * *

That afternoon, after I was ready to go, I returned everyone to their pokéballs, except Millie and Mismagius. Gallade was taking care of Danielle, keeping her mind off of me in the meantime.

"Well this was short-lived," Mesprit said. "Did you get in touch with Molly?"

"No, she's not picking up the phone."

"Doesn't that worry you?"

"Not really," I said. "She's with Latios. He may not like me, but he seems to like her," That partially explained her absence for now. Mesprit started to giggle. "What?"

"Please don't tell me you don't know what's going on," She laughed.

"_Please_ tell me, because I honestly don't know."

"They're seeing each other!"

"I know that, but..." She started twirling her fingers around. "No. No! They're just friends!"

"Whatever you say"

She continued laughing. I wanted to defend Molly, but my head was filled with so much crap now that unfortunately I made this official: I was going to kill Latios. I didn't know how, but I was going to. Unfortunately at the time though, I didn't know that this was a poor choice of words.


	13. The Long Trip Home

**This is the last chapter in Sinnoh. This is also the second of the two chapters in the story that are relatively short. But it is well lived, so enjoy!**

* * *

The next two weeks that we spent traveling back across Sinnoh were rough. Whenever Gallade wasn't looking, there wasn't much to stop Danielle from killing me. It deprived me of sleep, and increased my paranoia, but I was finally getting what I deserved. We didn't head directly back to Sunyshore City as originally planned, instead, we detoured to Sangdem Town so that I could drop Mesprit off at Lake Verity.

"Calvin, you didn't have to do this," She said. "I could've just teleported home."

"No, no. I wanted to do it. I'm pretty sure Azelf and Uxie are fighting again by now, and I can just take a ferry to Sunyshore from Sangdem. It's no problem."

I couldn't figure out where to walk, either in front or behind of Danielle. So instead I left her and the others at the docks in Sangdem and went with Mesprit alone. When we made it to the lake, she changed back into her pokémon form.

'I really appreciate what you did,' She said. 'Thanks for bringing me along with you.'

"I'm glad I said yes." I laughed.

'Please try to make up with Danielle, okay?' She hugged me. Well, at least my paranoia went away.

"Okay."

She waved me goodbye and dove beneath the water. I took a deep breath and walked back out to the route.

The ferry steamed out of Sangdem harbor and made a wide left turn, bound for Sunyshore.

"From there, we take the first ship home," I said to Millie. "I've called Molly for the last two weeks, and no answer."

She continued to stare at me.

"What?"

She frowned.

"You want me to go apologize to Danielle, huh?" She nodded. "I've tried that on dry land, and it didn't work. The open sea is just a giveaway," I turned back to the sea. "I....I think it's too late for apologies now."

"Mil!" She said, in a "keep trying!" tone.

"You're right....I will try my best to make up with her as soon as we reach home, okay?" I rubbed her nose. At least I would be on dry land(well technically, this isn't all true), and in the safety of my own house.

It took us another hour to get to Sunyshore City, where we transferred to the larger ship, bound for Alto Mare.

"Well, Sinnoh was fun while it lasted."

* * *

**The last sentence happens to be a line me and my parents use whenever we leave a state, city, country, etc. It helps to ease the sorrow of having to leave the place with the idea that you'll return sometime in the future. Anyway, in the next chapter, Calvin returns to Alto Mare, and the mood changes drastically! Please Review!**


	14. The Lonestar

**This chapter alone is the longest chapter in the entire story. Remember at the beginning of the story when I said that this follows the timeline of the movie? Well, this chapter happens to be right after the end of the movie, so you can almost picture the Alto Marian scene. But read anyway! :D**

* * *

After two more weeks onboard the ship, I was finally back at home. The day had gone by, and now that the sun was setting, there wasn't much to it anymore. Tomorrow I could open the restaurant, and hopefully find some way to make peace with Danielle. As I walked down the gangway, I noticed that the city looked unusually empty.

"Hey," I called to a dock worker. "Where is everyone?"

"They're on the other side of the city, at a ceremony." He said. "The city's guardian is there too."

Guardian....last time I checked, there were _two_ guardians. Either he made a verbal mistake, or something had happened in my absence. I turned back to Danielle, who didn't want anything to do with me. I left her with Gallade and me and Mismagius headed up the street to the 'ceremony'.

'Molly...I should see her first.'

* * *

I went back to the house. "Molly?" No one was home. It was starting to scare me. For two weeks I'd relentlessly called, and no one picked up. I figured she was with Latios, so it didn't worry me so much this time around.

"Mismagius," She turned to me. "I'm getting the feeling that I'm being kicked to second place in her life."

She nodded. Very supportive of her. We stepped back out and I locked the door. One of my neighbors walked by, and acknowledged me.

"Hey Calvin," He called. "How come you're not at the ceremony?"

"I'm headed there right now," I said. "Why is it so important?"

"You don't know?" He asked.

"No, I wasn't here."

"Well," He and I started walking. "It's for Latios. They say something bad happened to him."

I had to leave my neighbor and ran off to the ceremony. I didn't believe a word he said, and more importantly, I was worried about Molly now. The sun had disappeared beneath the horizon, and the sky was filled with its golden and blue remnants. The only way I could tell where I was going was the crowd of people in front of me.

I reached the ceremony. There was a wave of people, at least 2,000 of them. As I walked by, I noticed that some of the people were holding little ceremonial boats. Normally I wouldn't have been able to spot Molly, but since her hair was blue, she stood out like a sore thumb.

"Molly!" She turned around, face full of tears.

"Dad!"

She ran into my arms, still crying. She had a boat of her own.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," She wept. ''But....''

"But what?"

She was crying too much to tell me. So instead, she made me follow her through the crowd. After a while it started to thin, and I could finally see the ocean in front of me.

Latias, in her normal form, was levitating some thirty feet away, accepting the boats and putting them into the water. She took Molly's boat, both of them crying. She spotted me.

'Calvin...'

'Latias,' I thought back. 'What's wrong? What happened?'

Those words only made her cry more. 'Latios is gone....'

My heart dropped. I couldn't figure out what to say. People from all around put their boats on the ground. When they were done, there were at least a thousand of them. Latias used her psychic powers and picked them all up, and set them in the water. Their small sails caught the wind, and they were on their way. Some walked up to pay their last respects. I was still standing in the same spot. Latios's death was quite a blow to me. Sure we fought all the time, and we never got along, but he was a great ally, and he'd gotten me out of pretty tight situations before, some I'd never thanked him for. Just thinking that I'd been gone for a month when I could've been here to help prevent this killed me on the inside, and I was sure Latias thought the same way.

'I wish I could've been here...'

* * *

I lay on my bed that night, staring at the ceiling. I took Molly home earlier, but she had drifted off into an uneasy sleep. I didn't blame her; she was here to witness it all. How Latios died was still a mystery to me, but since no one was willing to tell me, I didn't question it.

Danielle walked past my door. If there was one thing I could set straight, it would be the relationship between me and her.

"I'm sorry..."

She stopped. 'Excuse me?'

"I said I'm sorry."

'You think that a simple 'I'm sorry' is going to set things straight?' She snarled. 'Read my lips: I'm NEVER going to forgive you.' Technically, she wasn't using her lips--shut up Calvin, she can probably hear you....

"Then what can I do to make you forgive me?" I asked.

'Nothing!' She walked away. The last thing I needed was for someone to be mad at me right now, so I followed her.

We ended up in the terrace. The moon was out, and the city was absolutely silent.

'Why are you still following me?'

"...hit me."

She looked at me, confused. 'W-what?'

"We're not getting anywhere with conversations, so just vent out your anger and hit me. Like you said, three years is worth the wait."

* * *

That comment angered her so much. She raised her arm and concentrated on his neck. From the looks of it, he was suffocating.

'You think this is some sort of joke?' She asked. 'That you could just toy with my emotions?'

She waved her arm, and sent him flying back about ten feet. Her psychic grip on his neck hadn't faded, and she could hear him gasping for air.

'I worked for you, night and day, for two straight years,' She yelled. 'No recognition, no award, not even a simple gesture!'

She picked him up again, and hit him. He wasn't even trying to fight back, and that made her angrier.

'On the night of the break-in, I wanted to attend my sister's birthday, and you know what you said to me?' She let go of his neck. 'Tell me.'

"I...I don't--"

'TELL ME!'

"If...if it isn't a death, then...then you don't get...the night off." He panted. She quickly sent him back to suffocating.

'I've been a Gardevoir for three years now, it doesn't bother me anymore,' She said. 'But nothing between us will ever change.'

She threw him across the terrace. He landed, and rolled up to the fountain. She removed her psychic grip on his neck.

The night was silent again. Her anger had subsided, and her breathing returned to normal. Twenty seconds had passed. Calvin wasn't breathing.

'Wait, no!' She finally realized that she couldn't kill him. He put her through hell, but that wasn't enough to kill him over. She walked over and knelt down next to him. 'What have I done?'

"The right thing," He suddenly opened his eyes, and she jumped back. "Danielle, did you really think you could suffocate me? I can hold my breath for quite a while."

It was something about his voice that upset her so much, or at least the way he spoke to her.

"Yes, I was the most horrible manager ever, and I never treated you like family," She never knew he considered her...family. "Because...I couldn't."

'Why not?' She demanded.

"Don't you know how hard it's been?" He asked. ''Time and time again I wanted to thank you for your efforts, but I couldn't. Emmy passed away, and it was just me and Molly. Being a mother and father at the same time can do that to a person, and I didn't know how to express my feelings except to be angry.''

'That's no excuse Calvin!'

He took a deep breath.

"Danielle, believe me when I say this," He went on. "You were always there for me, and even though I didn't show gratitude, I was always happy to have you around. If I could take back what I said the night of the break-in....when I left the restaurant, I started thinking, and I knew I was wrong, and by the time I turned around and got back to the restaurant...you and Molly were gone."

'You were coming back to apologize, weren't you?'

He nodded. "I've searched the world for three years in hoping I'd find you, and pray that you'd forgive me. But when I found you a couple weeks ago, I knew there was no hope. And now, to make it worse...I just found out today that one of my friends died."

She didn't know he had any other friends. He didn't make many after Emelina passed; he kept to himself.

"If there's anything in the world," He said. "Please forgive me. You can hate me for the rest of your life; you don't even have to speak to me. But just forgive me."

He really meant it. He didn't have the dignity to get down on his knees and beg, but he really meant every word.

* * *

'I...I need some time to think.'

She walked past me, and back towards the house. Mismagius revealed herself. I'm surprised Danielle didn't sense her.

"Latias..." She was next. I could picture her alone in her garden, experiencing nothing but sorrow and pain. I was waiting for someone to finally wake me up and tell me it's time to get off of the boat, because I still couldn't believe Latios was gone.

The next morning Molly and I, hand in hand, approached the park. Like the day before, the city was dead silent. Stores and shops were closed down, and shutters were closed and locked. It was as if every single Alto Marian got up, and moved to the mainland. Molly was walking silently beside me, eyes darkened from crying. I hadn't noticed how much of a loss this had on her, and it wouldn't have been wise to ask her if she was okay, as most people do.

"We need to see Latias," I said. "She needs to be around friends right now, and no one at the hall knows about this."

"We should go see her in the garden then," Molly said.

I had no idea how to get into the garden where the Lati's lived, nor the path to use to get there. Of course, she wanted to come anyway. Molly was wearing a golden bracelet, which seemed to glow strangely as we walked past certain parts of the city. It glew brightest when we entered the park. She walked up to a cluster of trees, and disappeared. When I ran into them after her, I was caught in some sort of vortex, and before I knew it, it looked as if I was in the park again. She turned around. "This is the Garden of the Lati's."

"Really?" I took another look around. Like my terrace, it was abundant with greenery. There were some pokemon in this garden, some in trees, and some enjoying their surroundings. There was a swing on a tree nearby, and to my left I saw a fountain. There was a teardrop-shaped object at its center, and glew a blue-white color. Latias was nowhere to be found.

"Latias?" We called. No answer. There were so many trees that it probably muffled our calls. However, telepathy was unrestrained. 'Latias, we've come to see you.'

We heard a voice, but it soon died away. Molly and I made our way past fountain and down a grassy pathway, deeper into the garden. Molly apparently knew where she was going, so she led the way. We soon came across a huge opening, and it made me question if this was a garden or another park. Latias was lying on the ground not too far from us, face covered by her paws and crying. Molly sat beside her, tears forming in her eyes too.

"Latias, I don't want to impose any more pain on you," I said. "But I need to know what happened while I was gone."

She stopped crying and uncovered her face. Much like Molly's, her eyes had dark spots under them from excessive crying. 'The...the DMA.'

I'd heard about it once or twice. The DMA, or Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare, is a device used to protect the city in a time of immense danger. However, for it to function, it requires the Soul Dew, the soul of a passed Lati in tangible form. I didn't get how Latios fit into the picture, since that entire conflict would've been past tense.

'They used him too,' They? Who's 'they'? I never found out, even to this day, but I decided not to ask. 'They made this giant...thing...out of the water. When we finally freed Latios, it fell apart and...'

Latias couldn't go on, so I figured it out for myself. "Whatever they made out of the water, returned to the water....right?"

"Yeah," Molly said. "But it created a tsunami."

Like the mythical city of Atlantis, Alto Mare would've been sucked up by the tsunami. And it was clear to me that Latios gave his life to stop it. I was at a loss of words for that moment. I looked back up the path to the fountain. The teardrop-shaped object sort of blinked at me. 'That must be the soul dew....of Latios.'

"I should've been here," I said, turning back to her.

'You couldn't have been in two places at once,' Either way I would've lost a close friend.

"Latias," I brought her to eye level with me. "You don't have to go through this alone. Latios was close to all of us, especially you."

She nodded.

"No matter what happens, you'll always have your friends," I looked back at the fountain again. She did too. "They're never really gone."

She burst into tears and consumed me with a hug. I hugged back. It was the least I could do.

'Calvin, you're a great friend,' She sobbed.

"Um, Latias,'' She looked at me. "I know you don't want to be alone, and neither do we, so…do you want to come along with us?"

'…okay.'

* * *

The three of us (Latias, in human form of course) got back to my house. I was holding a box in my hand. In it, was something that could've prevented the fallout between me and Danielle. Speaking of her, she was sitting in the bench in the terrace, thinking to herself.

"Uh, Danielle?"

She looked up, eyes full of concern. I revealed the box, and gave it to her. ''I....I should've did this three years ago.''

She opened it. In it, was one sheet of paper. "Calvin.....what is this?"

What can't be said with words sure can be said with a piece of paper. "Go on, read it."

She frowned, but read anyway. "The Owner and Manager of this restaurant would like to present to this worker, Danielle Stewart, a certificate of achievement...."

I smiled.

'....for outstanding work through the duration of his/her employment. He/She has also been subject to job promotion, which now stands as.....Assistant Manager?' Tears started to form in her eyes. 'I...I don't know what to say.'

"Don't say anything, you deserve it." I said. "Present tense, because you're still alive...if you're willing to come back to the restaurant."

'But I'm--'

"Ah ah ah....first rule of the Culinary Arts," I said. "Don't judge a book by its cover. If you think about it, Mismagius and Millie are always there helping, and customers love having them around. I mean, it _is_ a family business. And Danielle.....I can't change what happened to you these last three years, or the pain you went through. But I can't tell you how good it is to have you back."

She hugged me. 'I....forgive you. And I would love to come back to the restaurant.'

Molly and Latias broke a smile for the first time in days. I had a good feeling about the road ahead.


	15. Closure

Arceus finally called a meeting for the first time in weeks. It was time that the other legendaries knew about what had happened. Though in better moods, Latias and Molly were still in pain over Latios's death. They had asked me a few times how I felt about the whole situation, and I replied with ''I was coping with it.''.

"Arceus, there's something you need to know--"

'Hold on one minute Calvin, there's something I need to reward you with.'

She led me out of the hall and to somewhere deeper into the mountain. I have to say, the mountain was pretty complex. We came to a relatively large door, encrusted with the same symbol around Arceus's back. They immediately started glowing, and the door vanished, revealing a very interesting sight. There was a sword, lying on a small table in the middle of the room, illuminated by a ray of light that gradually widened as it made its way down to the floor. She walked me to the table.

'This is the Archaic Sword,' She said. 'I created it some centuries ago, in an attempt to find a human that I could entrust it with. And that would be you.'

"Really?" I asked. "You trust me?"

'Time and time again you have proven yourself to be a valuable ally,' She said. 'I could've never asked for a better choice of human.'

"...so wait," I ran my finger across the guard. There was small star carved into it, with five extra pinnacles on its edges. "You were testing me?"

She nodded. 'It's yours now. Take it.'

I grabbed the handle. If I knew how heavy this sword was, I wouldn't have. I used both hands, and picked it up. Underneath the sword was a sheath. Perfect.

"Why is this sword so heavy?!"

'The sword will retain its weight until it is used in battle, so don't strain yourself Calvin. Since I made the sword, it contains the many aspects of my powers. Unfortunately, it doesn't show them like I do. It needs something more.'

I sheathed the sword. It immediately became as light as a feather. Awkward....

'Now Calvin, what is it you wanted me to know?' Oh, right.

"Um, it's better if the other legendaries knew as well." She could sense that something was wrong, but respected my wish.

I didn't want to bring Molly along, but she didn't want to leave Latias's side, so I lost that argument. She looked around, amazed at all the legendaries.

'Calvin!' I could take one wild guess at who that was. 'And...hmm, blue hair...you must be Molly!'

She nodded. Giratina knelt down to get a better look at her. It was a shame actually. Giratina and quite a few other legendaries were in such good moods. Things would never be the same after today.

* * *

The meeting lasted all day, mostly because of patrol updates and more important subjects, such as my search with Giratina. He told Arceus that it was a complete success until I butted in that it would have been if Danielle hadn't been changed into a Gardevoir. No one believed me at first until Latias backed me up. Now, it was down to the subject that I asked Arceus to discuss over, with all the legendaries present. I didn't want to have to be the one to tell Arceus bad news after she just awarded me with this sword, but Molly and Latias weren't ready to re-tell the events of what happened since they were still mourning, so I didn't have a choice.

'Calvin,' She called. Everyone turned to me, half of whom didn't listen to me anyway. 'You wanted to tell us something?'

I stood up. The room went silent again. "It's...it's about Latios."

It was only then that they questioned his absence. The last time he was out was a month and a half ago, when he omitted a meeting to look after Molly. When Arceus saw my facial expression, combined with that of Molly and Latias's, she grew concerned.

'Calvin, what's happened?'

"He's..." The words got stuck in my throat. Every time I said Latios was gone, it bit at me until I finally had to face the fact that he _was_... "...gone."

The room went completely silent for for quite some time. I had to break the silence.

"I--I was told by Molly and Latias that someone activated the DMA," I said. "They used him and the Soul Dew to power it. Latias rescued him, but whatever they created with the surrounding water made a tsunami. It was going to destroy Alto Mare, so...he gave his life to stop it."

This all was happening way too fast for them, and I knew it. But they had to be informed, whether they wanted to hear the news or not.

'This is impossible...' Said Arceus, her voice filled with sorrow now.

I started to say something, but stopped midway and remained silent. Telling bad news was my thing unfortunately, a regrettable trait from my father. Of course, it didn't work this time around, and I couldn't understand why. Latios was neither a friend, nor family, but just an ally. But his death, thinking about it or even mentioning it, hurt me in ways I never understood.

'I....I must see for myself.' Arceus said.

* * *

We returned to Alto Mare that night. Arceus, before leaving the hall, transformed into a human form, that in the four years that I had known her, I had never seen. Much Like Latios, she had a full head of gray hair, but was no more than my age. She wore a beige blouse and a long, similarly colored skirt with thin gold stripes every here and there. As for jewelry, she had three bracelets on each arm, two necklaces, and a pair of earrings similar to the cross-like wheel previously on her back. I wanted to ask, but she anticipated my question and cut me off.

"The Soul Dew," Arceus said. "May I see it, Latias?"

'Sure thing,' She disappeared with a blue flash. Arceus turned to me.

"Calvin, how are you coping with this?"

"I'm fine."

"You didn't sound fine when you were telling us," She went on. "Are you in denial?"

"Of course not!"

"It wouldn't be wise to withhold your emotions," Latias reappeared, holding the Soul Dew in her hands. She gave it to Arceus, who started to look into it upon first contact. For a second I thought she was actually...listening to it. "I see."

She gave it to me, and buried her face in her hands. "He gave his life to protect the things he cared about the most. Just like his father...." I gave the Soul Dew back to Latias. "Cherish it dearly."

She nodded, and disappeared. Arceus got up.

"He will most certainly be honored for such a brave decision," She said. "I must return to the hall to clarify the others."

She disappeared as well, leaving me and Molly. Or, just me, since Molly had fallen asleep. A split second later, another wave of drowsiness swept over me, and I yawned. "Where did that come from....?" I guessed that the excessively-long meeting was starting to take its toll. I carried Molly upstairs and placed her in her bed, and then went over to my own room to get ready for bed. Then, I fell back onto my bed and closed my eyes.

_

* * *

_

_"Wake up, Calvin...."_

When I reopened my eyes, it was daytime. Grass grew wildly around me, almost covering up the trees from my view, and the clouds above floated harmlessly across the sky. I figured that I was in another dreamshare, but as I thought about it, "figuring" usually got me nowhere. I got up. Latios was levitating across from me.

"I take it you're back in the city then," There was something different about Latios. Normally, he'd hate to be in my presence, or would throw nasty looks at me. But now, he was calm, and spoke very softly.

"Uh, yeah...how--"

"My time is short, so you're going to have to save your questions," He said. "Calvin, you're in denial."

"No, I'm not!" I said. "Why does everybody keep saying that?"

"Because you still can't face the fact that I'm gone."

"You say it like it never happened!" I said angrily.

"It _did_," He said. "I'm not coming back, Calvin. Unfortunately for you, your mind is still riding on the notion that someone is playing a trick on you, that this is a preparation for some surprise birthday party. This notion is blinding your sense of thought, and because of that, I can only conclude that you _are_ in denial."

"Well then let me _conclude_ this," I clenched my fists. "Why didn't you call for help? Out of all the possible choices you could have made, what you did was no option!"

"Just like you," He shook his head. "You always think that there's a plan B, that if you're faced with something like what happened in Alto Mare, there a million-and-one possible options, as if everything will go the way you want it to go....Calvin....it was a tsunami. Would you rather I have called for help and let millions of lives be destroyed, or protect the things and people I care about the most....even if that meant giving my own life in the process."

He looked up. "Sometimes in life, you're faced with that kind of ultimatum. At some point in _your_ life, you're going to reach one of these ultimatums, and you're going to run out of options. And when the time comes, a hero is going to be needed, and you're going to have to step up, whether you like it or not....and even if it costs you."

I had been quietly listening all the time. He was right, and I was completely speechless. I had no other choice but to give into my denial.

"You did the same thing when Emelina died," He glided over to me. "You didn't want to face the fact that you lost another person whom you considered a friend. When that happened the first time, you were definitely in denial, and it started to eat at your emotions. It made you more reactive to the people around you, and when anyone ever tried to tell you otherwise, you lashed out. That's what led to the last three years of your life. It might've happened again if this denial state had a chance to start."

I looked up at him.

"Truthfully, I never _hated_ you, it's not my nature," He said. "I just couldn't stand the fact that you never admitted your denial or how you treated others that cared about you."

He turned to look elsewhere, and then looked back at me. "It looks like my time's up, Calvin."

He glided back over to his initial spot and turned around. He broke a smile, which was very surprising--he rarely ever smiled.

"Meet Latias in the park," He started to disappear. "Watch over her for me while I'm gone, okay?"

"How do you expect me to--"

"Did you learn _anything_ from this conversation at all?!" His smile faded fast, and he started to frown.

"Oh....right."

He disappeared. My surroundings started to fade and darken, and when I blinked, I was back in my bedroom. Only a few minutes had passed. I grabbed my coat and put my shoes back on, and ran out of the room. Danielle stopped me.

'Calvin, where are you going?' She asked. 'In your pajamas?'

"I think I left something at the restaurant, I'm going to check," I slipped past her and ran down the stairs. "I'll be back in a little!"

I closed the front door behind me and ran up the stairs off of the boardwalk and headed towards the park. I couldn't believe how good I felt about myself. The first in years.

* * *

I entered the park. It was an entirely different scene than the daytime. Lanterns here and only here, were still powered by oil and followed the numerous paths that ran across the park. They glew only softly, so that their light didn't obstruct the view of the star-filled night sky above. Unfortunately for today, and just like the previous two days in the city, the park was fully vacant. It made great for an un-secluded meeting with Latias.

"Latias?" I called. I heard sounds of a struggle nearby, so I ran towards it, thinking that she was in trouble. "Latias, are you okay?"

'Sssh! Not so loud Calvin, or you'll scare away all the fireflies!'

She was trying to capture some fireflies, but every time she got close to them, they dimmed their taillights and vanished into the night. She looked really frustrated, and it made me laugh a bit.

'This would be so much easier with--'

"No psychic," She groaned and joined me. "That defeats the purpose."

I gently put my hands around a set of fireflies, and caught them all, their glow emitting through my hands. When I opened them again, they were scattered all around my hands, glowing very brightly. They glimmered in Latias's golden eyes. Just seeing her smiling face let me know that at least some of her spirit had returned.

'Wow,' I shook my hands, and the fireflies flew off to rejoin the others. 'How did you learn to do that?'

"Emmy," I said. "I tried catching some fireflies in a similar fashion. I know this may sound a bit cheesy, but....that's when we first met."

'I think it's romantic,' She started to stare me down, and then started to giggle. 'What are you doing out here in your pajamas?'

"I was told....to meet you out here."

'By who?'

"....Latios...."

Her smile faded. 'What?'

"He contacted me in a dream a little while ago," I said. "We talked for a while, and then he told me to meet you out here."

'Coincidence,' A tear came to her eye. 'He came to me in a dream just now. We did the same thing.'

She was on the verge of crying. I hugged her.

"Remember Latias," I said. "He's never really gone," I looked at her. "Now come on, we've got to teach you how to catch some fireflies!"

She wiped her tears and joined me.


	16. The Beginning Of The End

**This is the part of the story I enjoyed writing the most, because now the climax starts to begin.**

* * *

I was wiping down the tables at the restaurant. It was a long day, and we just wanted to go home. After three days, Alto Mare was thriving again. Regular ferry service had resumed, which meant a lot of tourists were coming in. For once, that wasn't my concern. My mind was still focused on what Latios said.

_'when the time comes, a hero is going to be needed, and you're going to have to step up, whether you like it or not.... and even if it costs you.'_

He spoke the truth when he said that, but I had hoped that that day would never come anytime soon. Molly was sitting at the same table I served her, back when I thought she was just an ordinary girl with blue hair. Danielle was still looking at her certificate. The effects hadn't worn off just yet.

"I think I deserve an award," I said to Molly. She looked back to Danielle.

"Dad," She called quietly. "Do you think the restaurant will still be here 10 years from now?"

"Of course," I said. "But it might be under new management."

She gasped. "Me?"

"Yep," That time would probably come sooner than she expected. "So Molly, it's been a few days. How're you feeling?"

"A lot better...now that you mention it, can I go see how Latias is doing?"

"No restraints here."

She got up, and walked to the door. I waved her goodbye and watched her walk up the street. Everything had finally returned to normal....

* * *

We approached the house. The sun was setting, turning the afternoon into evening and activating lanterns along the street. From the looks on the faces of the kids that I passed and the adults accompanying some of them, I could tell that their dignity had been restored. As I approached the front door and reached for my keys, I noticed that a pane of glass was missing. I turned the knob, and the door opened. Someone had broken in.

"What kind of idiot would break into my house?" I _did_ have a lot of valuables, but in the eleven years that I had lived here, this had never happened. I checked around. Nothing was out of place. It had to be something I recently acquired, something out of plain sight, like--

"The sword!"

I'd left it in my room, laid out across the bed. I was planning on building a stand for it, but I would never get the chance. I ran up to my room and opened the door, but all I saw on the bed was an imprint where it had been.

"It's gone."

It was pretty astounding. Arceus gave me the sword just yesterday, and I already lost it. I felt so careless at that moment, that my anger got the best of me.

'Calvin, what is this 'sword' I just heard about?' Danielle asked.

"It's this sword that I--" I wasn't about to blow the secret just because of my anger. "Recently acquired from the pawn shop. Someone stole it."

'First of all, why would you purchase a sword?' She asked.

"Would you believe me if I--" She shot me a disturbing look. "Guess not."

All of a sudden these spontaneous roars and shrieks filled my head. They were so intense that it brought me to my knees, and distorted my vision. I heard multiple cries for help, but I just couldn't pin the voice to anyone in particular. Then it stopped abruptly, and my vision returned to normal.

'Calvin?' Danielle knelt down to assist me. 'What's wrong?'

''I don't know.''

Still dazed, I forgot about the sword for a moment and went back downstairs. Molly and Latias had shown up, in similar predicaments as me.

'Calvin, did you just hear that?' Latias asked, rubbing her head.

"Yeah, I did,'' I said. ''What was that?"

'I think we should head to the Spear Pillar.'

This wasn't one of those arguments Molly could win, and she had to stay home with the others while me and Latias went to the Spear Pillar. Once we got there, the thought of what Arceus would do to me for losing the sword started to swirl around in my head, and I became increasingly nervous with every footstep towards the Hall of Origin.

Latias stopped. She grabbed my arm and pulled me behind one of the broken columns.

'Calvin,' She whispered. 'Speak to me in your thoughts.'

'What's wrong?'

'There's another human up here,' She said. 'They're in the hall.'

This wasn't good. I dashed out from behind the column, quickly making my way towards the entrance to the hall. Latias followed close behind. Humans, besides me, in the Hall of Origin could only mean one thing: that someone had managed to get inside and confront Arceus. This wasn't a meeting day, so she was all alone. Of course, _this_ was Arceus. Any person in my place would've expected anyone foolish enough to go up against her to get horribly beaten. No signs of battle, so it made me guess that she personally knew whoever got to her, or....

I stopped running. "The sword..."

_'it contains the many aspects of my powers.'_ Whoever this was literally let themselves in.

"Arceus!" I finally got up to the hall. It was empty.

'Where is she?'

A portal was open on the far side of the table, which usually led into the mountain. We stepped through it, and entered into another large space, lined with stalactites and stalagmites.

The ground started rumbling. "Brace yourself...."

Stalactites from the ceiling broke off and fell towards the ground. But instead of hitting it, they changed course and shot towards us. Latias put up a barrier and blocked them. They disintegrated on contact and whipped up a cloud of dust. I covered my eyes.

"Calvin, is it?"

"That's my name," I opened my eyes. The dust cleared, and I saw Arceus across the room, with a man about my age, standing in front of her.

"I'm Mateo," God knows why he was telling me this. "has told me all about you," Oh goody. Now we're even.

'Arceus!' Latias called. Arceus was completely silent, and I could almost say she was dead if she wasn't breathing. There was something on her head, spread out into her fur, which would later explain her silence.

"I'll make this short and quick," He went on. "You can have your sword back." He threw it across the room. It only got about halfway before skidding to a halt. "I don't need it anymore."

Latias started growling. 'What have you done with Arceus?'

"Plenty." He said. "She is now under my control. I have to thank Calvin here for lending me his sword, so that I could realize this plan. And since you know now....Arceus. Kill them."

This guy wasn't playing. My eyes were focused on the sword, and how fast I could get to it before Arceus could make her first attack. That was risky. Arceus's speed was incredible. I'd needed a distraction, and I'd already planned it out with Latias while this idiot was explaining his plan.

"Now!"

Arceus stomped her two front hooves into the ground. I'd recognized this move as Earth Power. Latias threw me across the room as it split in half and disintegrated into a deep crevice, almost taking the sword with it. I caught it just before it did.

"Punishment."

I unsheathed the sword and prepared for the attack, and the funny thing was that I didn't feel the extreme weight of the sword. I guessed that counted as a battle. Nothing happened to me. Instead, I saw Arceus soar over my head and across the remainder of the room. That's when it finally struck me, that she wasn't attacking me....she was attacking Latias. She put up another barrier to try and block the attack, and I thought it would've worked, until I realized: dark attacks dealt a lot of damage against psychic types. Latias managed to slow down the attack, but doing so broke her concentration, and she was hit. I watched helplessly as she dropped to the ground, motionless.

"Finish her off."

Not a chance. I ran back across the room. Arceus prepared for another attack. I slid under her, and came up in front of her, and took the sword and shielded myself and Latias as she hit us with punishment. Dust blew up everywhere, but nothing happened. I guessed since Arceus made the sword, we were protected from her as well.

When the dust cleared for the second time, both Arceus and Mateo were gone, leaving me, Latias, and that partially destroyed room.

"Latias," I knelt down to her. "Latias, I can't lose you either! Please wake up!"

And finally when I didn't need it, help arrived.

Giratina and quite a few other legendaries appeared in the room. Latias finally opened her eyes and acknowledged me. 'I'm...okay.'

"What happened here?" Giratina asked us.

I helped Latias up. "Arceus is under the control of some guy named Mateo, and she attacked us."

"You understood me?"

"Yes, I can understand--" The sword allowed me to understand pokémon speech too? "That's not the point."

"Well...how exactly did she fall under his control?"

"...I have to tell you alone."

* * *

The three of us teleported back to my terrace, which Latias collapsed upon arrival.

"No, you're not okay," I said. "Hold on, I'll get Molly."

I ran back into the house. "Molly, I need you."

"Dad," She looked at me in awe. "You're covered in dirt. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "Latias is the one who needs your help."

She followed me back outside and knelt down next to Latias. "What happened?"

"Arceus attacked us."

"Okay Calvin," Giratina gave me a serious look that I honestly didn't expect from him. "How did it happen?"

"I..." I was wondering whether he would laugh or kill me. "I lost the sword."

"What sword?" I showed him the Archaic Sword, and he stepped back. "She trusted you with the sword?!"

"Yes, And while I was at the restaurant, Mateo broke into my house and took the sword. He got into the hall and took control of Arceus."

It all made sense now. Arceus was helpless against him because, since I just recently found out, the sword protects the holder from all of her attacks. I thought me losing the sword was just a pushover, but now with everything explained, I really screwed up.

"How do I explain this to the others?" Giratina asked.

"I'll do it," I said. "Molly, take care of Latias."

"Okay."

The hall was now full of confused legendaries. Giratina and I reappeared at the head of the table.

"Calvin, something you wanted to say?" I hate being put under the spotlight. I took a deep breath, and hoped for some dignity.


	17. Redemption

When I finally got home that same afternoon, I felt like someone had stabbed me through the heart. Molly was sitting outside the house waiting for me to return, and when she saw me coming, horrid facial expression and all, she jumped up.

"Dad," She called to me. "What happened?"

"Where's Latias?" I asked. "She should know too."

Molly took me to the garden again, this time with a different entrance location. When we arrived, Latias was laying on the ground across from us, in a set of grass thick enough to call a 'bed'. When she looked at me, she could sense that something was wrong. I sat down next to her, Molly Joined, and I began my recollection.

* * *

"Arceus has been captured," I said to the large group of legendaries. "I came here to find that out."

"How?" Articuno asked.

Well that was simple: Arceus gave me the Archaic sword and I lost it to Mateo in about a day. Then he used it against her and took control of her. It didn't make me feel any better, but it helped prolong the moment for an extra five seconds.

"This guy named Mateo. He used the Archaic Sword against Arceus and took control of her. When Latias and I came to find out, we were attacked by her."

"And just how exactly did he get the sword?" Okay, here we go....

"Arceus gave it to me."

Gasps, followed by murmurs, erupted all across the room.

"You sold her out?!" Lugia asked.

"No, never! He broke into my house and took the sword," No matter how much information I used to back myself up, it only made things worse. Arceus trusted me, and I let her down.

* * *

I stood down at the Spear Pillar. The legendaries were discussing my actions. I heard bits and pieces of their conversations before I left, none of it sounding good. Twenty minutes passed. I paced, swung the sword around to relieve anger, and finally sat down, back against a pillar.

Finally, Giratina came down, a grim look on his face. I almost didn't want him to tell me what the conclusion was. I remember his words, clear as day.

"The other legendaries have come to the conclusion," He sighed. "That you can no longer be trusted, and has asked me to escort you home."

So that was it. I absorbed his words, and acknowledged them in silence. Every last legendary turned their back on me. There was no point in making a big deal about it, so I shook my head and walked with him.

* * *

"What?!" Even Latias heard this. "Just like that? They can't do that!"

"They can," I said. "And they did."

'This is crazy, Calvin,' She said. 'It wasn't your fault. They'll have to reconsider.'

"That's what I thought. Unfortunately I was wrong," I got back up, walked back out of the garden. The problem wasn't that everyone turned against me, it was the fact that Arceus was under the control of someone, and with her power, she could destroy anything in her path.

* * *

Two weeks had passed. It was another night. I had heard from Latias that Lugia went up against Arceus and never came back. The same with Palkia, Dialga, and Deoxys. I was hoping that they were still alive. Arceus, even under control, couldn't have been that brutal. I wanted to tell them that the sword was the only thing that stood against her, but unfortunately that never happened. I'd spent most of my time out in the terrace, lying in a small patch of grass. I had completely forgotten about the restaurant, and it had been closed all the time. Molly and Danielle finally took over, with me not having much of a say in it at all.

_'Calvin...'_

I couldn't pin the voice on anyone, so I let it slide.

_'Calvin, get up.'_

I sat up. "What is it now..." Mesprit had come to see me. "Mesprit! What are you doing--"

'That's not important,' She looked a bit angry. 'Calvin, talk to me.'

"There's nothing to say."

'Of course there is,' She said. 'Don't yow want to know why the other legendaries turned against you?'

"I'm guessing Giratina told you."

'Still not important.'

"They're right, Mesprit. Arceus should have never trusted me with the sword, I wasn't ready. It was too risky to begin with, and now--"

All of a sudden my jaw exploded with pain. I never expected her to slap me.

'I know you're stronger than this,' She said. 'What do you expect to change if you don't fight for it? Everyone makes mistakes. Even the legendaries. I can't tell you how many times Arceus has had to bail them out. And just because you made a mistake doesn't give them the right to treat you so harshly, and that's why I say you should fight for it.'

I got up. "Thanks, Mesprit."

'Anything for a friend.'

A wave of determination rushed through me as she hugged me. This would probably be the last time I would see her.

* * *

I didn't have the usual argument with Molly. I actually wanted her to come with me to the hall. I needed a few more people, so Mismagius and Latias tagged along. Well, Latias was actually getting us there, so she invited herself. Two weeks of rest and constant attention, and she was back to full health again.

'You're going back?!' She asked me.

"Yes," I said. "This isn't over. Five legendaries down already, including your brother, and Arceus still hasn't been stopped. They need me."

'Well, okay,' She said. 'But I hope you know what you're doing.'

She teleported us to the hall, directly in front of a table of confused and divided legendaries. They all turned to our abrupt entrance.

"Hear me out," I said.

"Why should we?" Rayquaza asked. "You caused this mess"

"I know--"

"Because of you, four of our own have went up against Arceus and haven't returned." Articuno followed up.

"I know--"

"Arceus trusted you with one of the most powerful items known to exist, and it fell into the hands of another human."

"...I know," I took one step back. Stay strong, Calvin...

"Then leave."

They went back to arguing, ignoring my presence. I backed away from the table.

'Calvin, what do we do?' Latias asked.

_'Fight for it....'_ I pulled out the sword. "ENOUGH!" I swung it down into the table. A horrid sound echoed throughout the room, and when it died away, everyone had gone silent again.

"You think that by sitting around, arguing about our next move is going to solve anything?" I yelled, anger in my voice. "May I remind you that four legendaries went up against Arceus, and haven't come back? Harsh words won't solve anything. Action will."

I pulled the sword out of the table and sheathed it. "Yes, I messed up. It happens. We learn from our mistakes and move on. Well this is one of those mistakes what we have to fix. Lugia, Dialga, Palkia, and Deoxys have all tried, not as a group, but separately, to try and stop Arceus, and they've all failed. It's up to us to work together to stop her."

I saw some heads shake, and knew that I had won most of the crowd.


	18. The Last Battle I

**Chapters 18, 19, and 20 are all "The Last Battle". I chose to split it into three parts because it would have been too long to read for just one chapter, and I had already set the story's chapter limit to 20. Enjoy reading.**

* * *

A map of the entire world was rolled out in front of me. I was trying to pinpoint Arceus's location.

"Lugia fought Arceus here," Northeast of Hoenn. "Dialga and Palkia fought her around the same area," Southwest of Sinnoh. "And Deoxys fought her here," East of Kanto. "So she has to be somewhere in these waters, if not still there."

I saw a few small islands in this area. This had to be it.

"Latias, can you scout this area? If you come across Arceus, don't hesitate to get out of there." She nodded, and disappeared. "Arceus won't follow her back here. She's definitely outmatched."

"Dad, can I help?" I turned to Molly.

"Of course not," I said. "And I'm not going to tell you why for obvious reasons."

Everything after this moment would explain what happened to her those last three years, and why Danielle was a Gardevoir.

"I...I have something to show you," She said.

"Make it quick Molly, we don't have much time."

She closed her eyes and clasped her hands around her chest. Her body started to change form.

"No..."

It happened so fast; a Tyranitar appeared. My jaw had dropped to the ground long before. The room went silent, some of the other legendaries shocked just as much as me. It finally hit me. Molly and Danielle had been experimented on the last three years. No wonder she didn't want to talk about it, and no wonder she had all of those nightmares about being taken away. She'd found a way to use her abilities for the better, and escaped. And the blue hair, probably a side effect from the experiments. This all hurt my head too much.

"Can I help now?" She asked.

"Molly....you were this small!" I waved my hand in the air. "And now you're this....large....how....I mean you were just--"

"I didn't start off this way, Dad," She said. "It all happened over the course of those three years."

I still failed to believe the sight in front of me, and my jaw hadn't moved from its position. Danielle's size was explainable, but Molly....

"Dad?"

Mismagius snapped me out of my shocked state by intentionally gliding through me. It sent a chill up me spine and knocked me back into reality.

"Okay....okay, I'll see," That was hard to get over. "We wait until Latias gets back and then we devise a plan."

* * *

Latias reappeared in front of me.

"What did you find out?"

'I'll have to show you.' She put her paw on my head, and a couple seconds later, I was at the site.

I looked around. For at least ten miles in every direction, the sea was solidified in ice. My guess, was that this was a glacier of some sort. The islands I saw earlier were scattered around me, and there was a thick overcast that cut out the sun. To my right I saw an airship, and that's where our battle would lie. I had an idea of getting rid of the airship fast, because there was no need to go inside.

_'Look closer Calvin...'_

I darted towards the airship. Through one of its massive windows I saw the four downed legendaries, all trapped in different colored orbs, probably to negate their chances of escape. This ruined my plan of a quick and easy battle, and now I had to figure out how to get inside. Blast and destroy was no option, because as I 'felt', there was a force field up.

The vision faded and I returned to the hall. "This is definitely an impasse."

Latias turned around, and looked up at Molly. 'Ah, so you told him.'

My jaw returned to the ground. "You knew?!"

'Well, while you were gone Molly needed someone to open up to, and I was all ears,' She said.

"And you never told me?!"

'You never asked.'

"What the....okay, I'll pitch that at another time," I had to, because I got a nasty look from Rayquaza. "We have to figure out how to get onto that airship. Leave that to me. Everyone else, rest up, because tomorrow we're going to save Arceus, and our four companions."

The hall emptied, leaving me, Mismagius, Molly, and Latias.

"This plan, whatever it may be, has to work perfectly," I said. "There can't be any mistakes....as for you, Molly," I looked up at her. "We've got to talk."

* * *

Latias went back to the garden to rest up. Molly, after a brief explanation from her, went to her room to do the same. I was lying across my bed that evening, throwing a paddleball up into the air. Millie and Typhlosion were asleep on the floor beside me.

"A diversion...." The legendaries would have to be divided up into teams. I could send one team to attack the airship, luring Mateo and Arceus out while another team and I went in to rescue the legendaries. After that, the airship could be destroyed, and Arceus would eventually fall out of Mateo's control. The only problem with that plan was the force field. There was no way around it, unless....unless we were to go underwater? Suicidal. The ice would have to be incredibly thick to support an airship that large. The only way to get inside was to disable the force field _from_ the inside. And I knew exactly who fit that job description.

"Mismagius..." I called. She appeared. "Want to go scouting?"

She happily agreed. I grabbed my coat, a pair of binoculars, and walked back downstairs.

"Gallade," I called to him. "I'll be back in two hours."

I put on my hat and walked outside, and returned Mismagius to her pokéball. "Staraptor."

He swooped down from the roof, and landed in front of me. "I need a lift. You up for it?"

He poked my head in annoyance. "Okay, okay! Let's go."

I climbed onto his back and he shot into the air, almost throwing me off. I guess that month-long trip in Sinnoh did him pretty well.

* * *

We landed on a rock formation in the middle of the icy ocean. I pulled out the binoculars and zoomed in on the airship.

"No security..." Mateo was pretty overconfident in his force field, and I doubted he'd use Arceus to ward off intruders. I released Mismagius from her pokéball. ''Mismagius, I need you to scout out the interior of the airship, and see if you can find a force field generator.''

She nodded, and disappeared. I needed her for two good reasons: ghost types aren't picked up by scanners, and the force field proves worthless against her, so she can pass harmlessly through it. It was bad for me though, because I couldn't help her if she fell into danger.

* * *

Mismagius passed through the force field, and into the airship. Once inside, she found herself at the crossroads of three hallways.

'Which way...' She felt the four legendaries' presence to her left. A strong electromagnetic force in front of her and an even deadlier force to her right. She quickly recognized it as Arceus, and decided against that direction. 'Forward it is.'

She quickly made her way down the hallway, passing some guards who couldn't see her anyway. As the electromagnetic force got stronger, more and more guards started appearing, until she came to a door blocked by a group of them. She phased through the wall.

'This must be it,' The force field generator was a large square machine, that made a low humming sound, and had computers constantly monitoring it. Mismagius scanned the room, the generator, and a couple of other measurements before leaving.

'I wonder...' She glided across the hall and phased through the wall, passing through mechanical rooms and other quarters before coming to another large room. The four large orbs were lined up next to each other, each with a different legendary in it. Mismagius spotted Lugia.

She ascended to his level. "I'm pretty sure you need help now."

He groaned. "What are you doing here?"

"Calvin sent me on an errand," She said. "He's trying to save you four."

"He's wasting his time."

"You should be happy he's actually doing something," She started to fade, until only her eyes were visible. "I know I wouldn't."

She closed her eyes and she was gone.

* * *

Mismagius reappeared, with a confident look on her face.

"I'm guessing you found the force field generator." She nodded. "Okay, now I can create a plan."

* * *

I woke up at six this morning. There was heavy overcast, and it was foggy. "I guess it's time."

First, I woke Millie and Typhlosion up, and returned them to their pokéballs. Then I walked over to Molly's room, and woke her up.

"...five more minutes, dad..." She mumbled.

"Arceus could destroy the world in five minutes...." She jumped out of bed, wide awake. "I'll meet you downstairs."

Mismagius, like usual, appeared in front of me, and like usual, I walked through her. A great way to start my morning.

"Warn me!" I whispered. Next, I went down to Gallade, who was with Danielle. The pokémon center in Eterna, and now this? I started to wonder if there was something going on between the two of them.... "It's time, Gallade."

He opened his eyes, and nodded. "I'll meet you out front." I went out to the back, where Electivire was. I'd need all the help I could get, because I didn't know what kind of surprise was in store for us. "Hey Electivire, you finally got your wish. All-out battling."

He yawned and got up. I returned him to his pokéball as well. I whistled to Staraptor, and he came down from the roof again.

"Meet me out front."

He nodded, and flew back over the house.

"Okay dad, I'm ready," Molly came out to me. I really didn't want to put her up against Arceus, but then again, I didn't know exactly how strong she was, and I didn't feel like arguing. I left a note for Danielle and locked the door behind me. I reassured Gallade and Staraptor that they weren't going to be in their pokéballs for long, and returned them. We needed to wake Latias up if she wasn't awake already, so Molly and I started walking.


	19. The Last Battle II

We stood near the edge of the fountain in the garden and waited as Latias prepared herself for the big day.

"So this is it," I mumbled.

"Dad, are you nervous?" Molly asked. I'd been in tight situations before, both as a trainer and as Arceus's aide, but I think this topped them all.

"A bit."

'Okay, I'm ready,' Latias glided up to us. 'Calvin, you look nervous.'

"Truthfully, I've never led anything this wide scale."

'Well you have Giratina, he's second in command,' That made me feel worse.

"Let's go then."

We gathered around Latias, and she teleported us to the Hall of Origin, where all of the legendaries were waiting.

"Calvin, glad you could make it." Giratina said. "What's the plan?"

I took a deep breath. ''Okay. I went scouting last night to get a better view of the airship, because I needed to figure out how to get past the force field. I have a great idea which I won't discuss right now. The plan is simple: after the force field is down Me, Molly, Latias, my pokémon, and three other volunteers will go inside and rescue the others. Everyone else will make a diversion, luring Mateo and Arceus outside. You won't have to face Arceus for long or luckily, not at all, because once they're outside and the other legendaries are rescued, we'll destroy the airship which should disrupt Mateo's control over her.''

"Easier said than done," Rayquaza said.

"I know. That's why we have to work together."

He gave me a nod, and told me to lead the way.

* * *

Latias teleported us to the side of the airship. Molly transformed into her Tyranitar form, which was still pretty unbelievable for her human size. The three volunteers were Entei, Articuno, and Rayquaza. At first I thought he wasn't willing to work alongside me, but he proved me wrong.

'Okay, on my mark...' I thought to Giratina and his team. 'NOW!'

I quickly released Mismagius from her pokéball, as the first explosion went off. "Mismagius, Disable!"

Since Mismagius knew where the force field generator was, she quickly disabled it, and the force field thinned and disappeared. That was easier than I thought.

"Very smart Calvin!" My first compliment from Rayquaza. He did his job and got us inside by blowing a hole in the hull. We climbed up his back and came into a chaotic hallway. Once we appeared, guards surrounded us. They were all armed with metal batons.

"You guys go on ahead! I got this." I said.

I released Gallade. Gallade, Mismagius and I stood back to back.

"Remember the attack plan?" It's an old trainer thing when I say this. They nodded to me, and I smiled.

We split up. Gallade and I ran left, and Mismagius went right. I was worried that she might be overpowered, but we already had other problems. I quickly pulled out the Archaic sword to block two incoming batons. I never handled a sword before, but it felt like I was doing pretty well. I pushed them back and swung the sword into their batons. They shattered on contact.

"Too cool."

I punched one across the face and elbowed the other, and then deflected a baton from my right. I turned around to attack. From this view, Gallade had already fought his way past three guys. Two left.

"Gallade! Team up!"

I pushed this guy back and he and I joined. I swung the sword again while they tried to block, thus shattering their batons. Gallade hit them with a wave of confusion, and then we both kicked them back. They fell to the ground and skid to a halt, too confused to get up.

"That was fast," He said.

"I know, that was pretty--did you just--" The sword, Calvin, the sword. "Mismagius, are you alright....?"

Her work was done. All of the guards were lying on the ground.

"What did you do?"

"I put them to sleep," Her voice sounded mature, and had a slight accent to it.

"When?"

"About right after we split up," Well that was a waste of time. "It was very entertaining what you two did."

I sheathed the sword. "Let's regroup."

We ran down the hallway, with Mismagius leading the way. She knew where she was going, so we followed without question. We reached a point on the ship that had been blown into, probably one of Rayquaza's motives. The hole led to the room I saw, Articuno and Rayquaza firing conjoined attacks at Lugia's orb. Not a scratch.

I looked out the window. Arceus and Mateo were lured outside. The plan was working pretty well until Giratina stepped forward.

"Dammit!" I said. "Guys! We've got to work faster! Giratina's buying us time!"

They all turned around to look.

"Dad, we've hit these orbs with everything we've got," Molly said. "Nothing's working."

"Find a computer, there has to be one," Think about it. What high-energy, specifically designed, containing mechanism doesn't have one? And this seemed like one of those 'blow it up' moments.

She looked around for a minute, and spotted one between the orbs. "I hope you're right about this," She walked over to it and gave it one good hit. It started to fizz and hiss, and then went silent. The orbs then disappeared and the four legendaries dropped to their feet.

I walked over to Lugia. Mismagius followed.

"Don't say it," He said.

"Say what?" I asked. "That I told you so?"

He nodded.

"We were both wrong, and I'm not saying that to make you feel better," I said. "But we don't have time for this now. We have to destroy this airship."

"Which brings me to that question," Articuno said. "How do you expect to achieve that?"

* * *

From high in the air, Lugia fired an aeroblast attack down at the ice. Rayquaza did the same with a hyper beam. They circled the airship twice, and then landed. Giratina wasn't winning against Arceus, but he wasn't giving up. It cost him a lot of his vitality.

Molly saw this opportunity, and stomped her feet into the ground. Shockwaves rippled over to the airship and the ice beneath it finally started to break up. The airship crashed beneath the ice, and started to sink. We turned around and walked back to the others.

"Give it up Mateo!" I yelled. "You have nothing left!"

Arceus was still under his control. Something wasn't right.

"Calvin, I thought you said that Arceus would be free now," Latias said.

"She should be," I said. "We sank the airship, that's where all the controls are."

That thing on Arceus's head....that was probably what was controlling her, not the systems on the airship, and even with that down Mateo still hadn't lost confidence. "Giratina! Aim for the thing on her head!"

He took to the sky, and fired an attack down at her. She stood still and took the hit. Something wasn't right there either. An explosion erupted, but when the smoke cleared, there wasn't a scratch on her, or the thing on her head. Mateo laughed.

"I knew you were going to figure that out sooner or later!" He yelled.

"What are you talking about?"

"The device on her head has its own force field!" I stood there in awe. "It can only be disabled by Arceus, and she is under control by me."

"Don't you know by now, Calvin?" He went on. "There was a reason for the attack on Alto Mare, and there was a reason Latios was used in the process," This caused Latias to growl in a considerable fit of rage. "While finishing the main objective of acquiring the Soul Dew, it was imperative that Latios be captured as well. Concealed within his mind were the secrets to finding Arceus. But going after her with brute force was definitely a no-go. How fortunate was it that she handed you that sword? We traced its energy resonance back to Alto Mare, and found it unprotected at your residence. After a quick study, we concluded that the wielder is protected from any physical damage caused by the forger, Arceus. And that led to her quick and easy capture."

'They figured out the sword before I did,' I thought.

"You think I didn't know it was you who attacked our airship? You who would end up rescuing the legendaries I captured?" He went on. "I had been preparing for this day all night. And now, I think this futile standoff should come to an end."

He looked up to Giratina, who was in shock too. I saw this coming.

"Giratina, land quick!"

"Too late," He said. "Arceus, hyper beam!"

She fired the hyper beam in the delay time that he was trying to swerve out of the way, and was hit directly in the chest. He fell out of the sky and crash landed in the ice.


	20. The Last Battle III

**This is the last chapter in the story. I hope you've enjoyed reading so far.**

* * *

I ran across the ice. Giratina wasn't moving, and my mind came to the worst possible conclusion.

"Giratina!" I skid to a halt in front of him. He wasn't breathing either. "No...."

I froze. That thing on her head had a forcefield of it's own, and was impenetrable, unless she said otherwise. But since she was under Mateo's control, that made it his choice. A loud cough brought me back to Earth. Giratina had regained consciousness. "Wow...some battle."

"Damn you!" I grabbed my chest. "You had me scared for a second!"

He started to get up. I backed away.

"I don't think so, Giratina!" Mateo yelled. His voice was really starting to annoy me. "Arceus, another Hyper Beam!"

An attack like that would definitely kill him. "To hell with that!"

I climbed up on top of Giratina's back. The beam was coming at us fast. I stood where the beam would eventually hit us, and held the sword with both hands. The beam collided with it, but it only felt like a small nudge. It pushed me back fast, but I caught my ground, and deflected it into sky. It burned a hole in the clouds, and sunlight made its way through thereafter.

"Thanks...for the save...Calvin," Giratina fell back down onto the ice with a crash. He was definitely incapable of further battle.

I jumped off of his back, and looked towards Arceus. That second hyper beam had weakened her for a while, but what next? I then looked back to the other legendaries. With Giratina down, no one else was willing to battle, and so they stepped back. There was nothing I could do to encourage them. Then I looked at the sword. I couldn't protect them all, and now....and now....

'I'm out of options,' I thought. 'This is what Latios was talking about.'

'Calvin, what are you thinking?!' Latias glided over to me. "We can't give up!"

"We can't continue fighting her. It may cost us."

"Yes we can," Molly joined us. "We can do it."

"Molly, I--"

"This isn't one of those arguments you're winning dad," She said. "Please..."

I looked at the sword, then thought of something. "I think I might have a plan, but it's risky."

"It doesn't matter, we can do it."

I dashed out onto the open ice. I couldn't run, so I skated out. "You better keep up."

My plan went like this: if I could get close enough to Arceus, then maybe I could take out that thing controlling her on her head. The sword was part of her, so it could be the only thing that could stop her.

"Arceus!" Mateo called. "Earth Power!"

"Molly, we need a counterattack!"

Arceus stomped her hooves into the ice while Molly jumped onto a rock, and landed on the icy surface, emitting an earthquake. The shockwaves collided, negating both attacks and tearing up the ice. I skated around some of the jagged ice that protruded, some of the ice forming a ramp in front of me. It was fortuitously pointed at Arceus's head.

"Latias! I need a lift!"

I skid up the ramp, and Latias used her psychic powers to increase the power of my jump. I soared through the air until I was directly above Arceus.

"You said the device can only be destroyed by Arceus?" I yelled to Mateo. "Well this is a part of her!"

He merely sighed. "Arceus. Judgment."

'I guess it's a stalemate then,' I landed on her head and used the momentum to strike the sword through the force field, damaging the device and causing it to malfunction. Arceus, unleashed ten rays of light before letting out a pain-filled roar. I jumped off of her head as she fell over onto her side. Mateo was thrown off and landed on the ice next to her. Latias took this as an initiative to bind him in psychic energy. I landed on the ice, but unfortunately I didn't get lucky this time. The force of my fall was enough to break my leg. I fell onto my back as excruciating pain overwhelmed me now. When I looked up, I realized that this wasn't a stalemate, but a checkmate.

Lights flashed at me from all directions. So did my life.

'I guess this is what's going to cost me.'

It became too bright to see, and I covered my eyes. An explosion blocked out my eardrums. It was as if Judgment was just blocking out all of my senses so that my death would be less painful....

But it wasn't.

I opened my eyes. My vision was completely blurred, but I could still see the sky. All I could hear was my own heartbeat, and all I felt was the excruciating pain in my leg. I survived. That was impossible, I couldn't have survived Judgment; it's a death-dealing attack. Of course, I wasn't the one dealt with it. I looked up. Latias and Molly were nowhere to be found.

"No....they didn't," I turned around to see their two lifeless bodies lying behind me. "No....no....no, NO!"

I nudged at their bodies for some sort of vital sign. No response. I couldn't believe it. They jumped into the way of Judgment to save my life. I kept doing this for a while, tears now running down my face. I started to hear faint voices, and shadows of others coming to our rescue. Finally realizing that there was no hope of bringing them back, I put my hands to my head and lay back into the ice.

* * *

I woke up. I didn't notice that I'd fallen asleep. From the looks of it, I was resting back in my room. My leg didn't hurt as much, but it had been placed in a cast to heal. The morning sun was up, and the running water from the canal could he heard from below. None of this fazed me in the least.

A cane had been left for me so that I could walk around. I grabbed it, and walked downstairs. I left the house and limped my way to the restaurant. Since I never used a cane before, it took me at least half an hour to get there. I unlocked the door, placed the cane on the counter, and sat on a stool at the bar.

"Il Posto Per Godere," I rubbed the counter. "Molly named you."

Molly and Latias, both whom I never thought would do such a courageous thing, gave their lives to save mine. Latios told me to look after Latias, and in the end, she ended up doing the opposite, for me. And Molly....my daughter, even after three years of trauma and pain, she still went out of her way to protect me as well. I covered my face in my hands and started to cry.

_'I guess it was a stalemate after all.'_

I looked up. That voice....

'Latias....' I thought. 'I know you're out here,' When no one appeared, I became discouraged. 'Worth a shot.'

_'That's not the Calvin Winthrop I know.'_

This time it was definitely real. I picked up my cane, and jumped off of the stool.

"Latias?" I called. "Please....if you're out there, give me some sort of sign."

The paddleball, which hadn't been removed from my pocket, fell to the floor and started bouncing by itself. It bounced all the way around the restaurant, towards the stairs to the second floor. I followed it. When I got close enough, the ball then bounced up the stairs to the second floor. I slowly followed. When I finally reached, the ball was rolling in circles in front of my office door. I picked it up, and then looked at the door. It was obviously leading me to something.

"What does this mean?" I thought.

_'Just open the door already.'_

I turned the doorknob, and opened the door. Molly and Latias were leaning against my desk, waiting for me. The sun was shining bright through the windows; I almost couldn't believe it for a second.

"Hi, dad," Molly said, grinning. "This was all Latias's idea."

She gasped. 'How could you give me away like that?!'

"I'm not taking the blame for scaring dad half to death!"

"Please...girls..." They turned to me. "Don't use that word."

Molly sighed and came to hug me.

"You're alive," I stroked her hair. "I...I don't understand....how?"

'When you fell onto the ice and broke your leg, we knew that there was now way you would be able to move out of the way of Judgment in time, so me and Molly decided to shield you as best as we could, even if that meant giving our own lives. I created a barrier, which negated most of the attack.'

"But the attack was still too powerful, and it broke through Latias's barrier," Molly continued. "So I tried my best to shield you both, since normal attacks don't affect me as much."

"You two...." I was tearing up all through their explanation. "You two are the best....thank you."

I spread my arms again. I was immediately consumed with a hug.

"What happened to Mateo?" I asked.

'Arceus had Uxie wipe his memory,' Latias said. 'She said it was better than....you know....'

Truthfully, I wanted to see the man dead or in prison, but letting him roam the world not having a clue who he was, was a fate worse than those two. Served him right.

* * *

A few days passed since the battle. Arceus called the legendaries to the Spear Pillar for a ceremony. I brought the sword with me this time.

"These last few weeks have been very hard on everyone," Arceus started. "Especially for Latias," Great way to start things off. "Latios was one of our closest friends, valuable allies, and the best choice for third in command in my absence," She went on. "He will be deeply missed."

I looked to Latias. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"So today we honor him with this statue," She stepped aside, revealing a life-size statue of Latios, levitating about a foot above its stand. On the stand itself, the words ingenuity, diligence, and bravery were enscribed.

"We also honor the three who put their lives on the line for their friends, family, and our safety," She said. "Calvin, Latias, Molly, would you please come forward."

The three of us walked towards Arceus.

"When tranquility turned to chaos, many of you became divided and blamed others for my capture," She said. "But they didn't give up, and found a way to solve the problem. Calvin successfully dispatched a plan to rescue four downed legendaries and with the help of Molly and Latias, released me from my imprisoned state, almost losing their own lives. Today, I would especially like to thank Calvin....for being a leader when there wasn't one."

There was suddenly a roar of cheer. I looked to Molly and Latias, and they looked back to me.

"Nice going, Calvin," Latias said, as she and Molly joined the applause.

* * *

That evening when I got back home, I needed some time to rest my leg, so I went out onto the terrace and fell back into the patch of grass. A crescent-shaped moon was out, and along with the stars, it made for a beautiful night. It almost reminded me of that scene I had a chance to witness, that night back in the Distortion World.

'Not in the least,' Mesprit's voice said. 'The night sky was way better there.'

She revealed herself, lying right next to me.

"Mesprit, when did you get here?" I asked.

'I never left,' She said. 'But I heard about the good news. Congratulations, Calvin.'

"Thanks."

'You don't sound too happy about it.'

"I'm not, actually," I said. "I almost lost Molly and Latias."

'Remember then I told you about my mishap in Mt. Coronet?' I nodded. 'It just goes to show that your friends or your family will go to any extents to ensure your safety. I'm pretty sure Molly and Latias weren't thinking about how much damage that attack would've dealt, but about how much they could protect you from it.'

"That took a lot of courage," I said.

'Actually, I think it's more about....affection.'

I looked at her. "Mesprit, where are you going with this?"

'Like a mother and her child, Calvin,' She said. I lay back down. 'Or like you and Molly. If it were her case, wouldn't you go to all extents to save her?'

"And that I did," Those three years I spent searching for her. I felt better now.

'Oooh, look! A shooting star!' The star shot across the night sky. 'Make a wish.'

I couldn't. I didn't have a wish, because everything that I always wanted, I already accomplished. I made new friends, new allies, and gained the respect of both my pokémon and the other legendaries. When Emelina died, I was thrown into a denial state, which caused me to lash out at the only people who cared about me, and that partially caused Molly and Danielle's three-year absence. When Latios finally shed some light, not only did I regain the relationship with Danielle, but we also saw eye to eye, and I gained his trust. Even though he's gone, I am proud to say that we are friends again. And when the time came for a hero, I stepped up, and when I needed help, Molly and Latias were there for me. The path I took was long and hard, and in truth it wasn't finished, but as I looked up to the shooting star, I had reached a point on my path where I didn't need to rely on wishes anymore.

"I think I'll wish..." Just so that Mesprit wouldn't get angry "...that my life was different."

'Calvin, not out loud, or it will never come true.'

"Who said I wanted it to?"

**

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